CHAPTER V

BUDDHIST PHILOSOPHY

Many scholars are of opinion that the Sâ@mkhya and the Yoga represent the earliest systematic speculations of India. It is also suggested that Buddhism drew much of its inspiration from them.

It may be that there is some truth in such a view, but the systematic Sâ@mkhya and Yoga treatises as we have them had decidedly been written after Buddhism. Moreover it is well-known to every student of Hindu philosophy that a conflict with the Buddhists has largely stimulated philosophic enquiry in most of the systems of Hindu thought. A knowledge of Buddhism is

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therefore indispensable for a right understanding of the different systems in their mutual relation and opposition to Buddhism. It seems desirable therefore that I should begin with Buddhism first.

The State of Philosophy in India before the Buddha.

It is indeed difficult to give a short sketch of the different philosophical speculations that were prevalent in India before Buddhism. The doctrines of the Upani@sads are well known, and these have already been briefly described. But these were not the only ones. Even in the Upani@sads we find references to diverse atheistical creeds [Footnote ref 1]. We find there that the origin of the world and its processes were sometimes discussed, and some thought that “time” was the ultimate cause of all, others that all these had sprung forth by their own nature (_svabhâva_), others that everything had come forth in accordance with an inexorable destiny or a fortuitous concourse of accidental happenings, or through matter combinations in general. References to diverse kinds of heresies are found in Buddhist literature also, but no detailed accounts of these views are known. Of the Upani@sad type of materialists the two schools of Cârvâkas (Dhûrtta and Sus’ik@sita) are referred to in later literature, though the time in which these flourished cannot rightly

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be discovered [Footnote ref 2]. But it seems

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[Footnote 1: S’vetâs’vatara, I. 2, kâla@h svabhâbo niyatiryad@rcchâ bhutâni yoni@h puru@sa iti cintyam.]

[Footnote 2: Lokâyata (literally, that which is found among people in general) seems to have been the name by which all carvâka doctrines were generally known. See Gu@naratna on the Lokâyatas.]

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probable however that the allusion to the materialists contained in the Upani@sads refers to these or to similar schools. The Cârvâkas did not believe in the authority of the Vedas or any other holy scripture. According to them there was no soul. Life and consciousness were the products of the combination of matter, just as red colour was the result of mixing up white with yellow or as the power of intoxication was generated in molasses (_madas’akti_). There is no after-life, and no reward of actions, as there is neither virtue nor vice. Life is only for enjoyment. So long as it lasts it is needless to think of anything else, as everything will end with death, for when at death the body is burnt to ashes there cannot be any rebirth. They do not believe in

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the validity of inference. Nothing is trustworthy but what can be directly perceived, for it is impossible to determine that the distribution of the middle term (_hetu_) has not depended upon some extraneous condition, the absence of which might destroy the validity of any particular piece of inference. If in any case any inference comes to be true, it is only an accidental fact and there is no certitude about it. They were called Cârvâka because they would only eat but would not accept any other religious or moral responsibility. The word comes from carv to eat. The Dhûrtta Cârvâkas held that there was nothing but the four elements of earth, water, air and fire, and that the body was but the result of atomic combination. There was no self or soul, no virtue or vice. The Sus’ik@sita Cârvâkas held that there was a soul apart from the body but that it also was destroyed with the destruction of the body. The original work of the Cârvâkas was written in sûtras probably by B@rhaspati. Jayanta and Gu@naratna quote two sûtras from it. Short accounts of this school may be found in Jayanta’s Nyâyamañjarî, Mâdhava’s Sarvadars’anasa@mgraha and Gu@naratna’s Tarkarahasyadîpikâ. Mahâbhârata gives an account of a man called Cârvâka meeting Yudhi@s@thira.

These are (1) Dîgha Nikâya, called so on account of the length of the suttas contained in it; (2) Majjhima Nikâya (middling Nikâya), called so on account of the middling extent of the suttas contained in it; (3) Sa@myutta Nikâya (Nikâyas relating to special meetings), called sa@myutta on account of their being delivered owing to the meetings (_sa@myoga_) of special persons which were the occasions for them; (4) A@nguttara Nikâya, so called because in each succeeding book of this work the topics of discussion increase by one [Footnote ref 1]; (5) Khuddaka Nikâya containing Khuddaka pâ@tha, Dhammapada, Udâna, Itivuttaka, Sutta Nipâta, Vimâna-vatthu, Petavatthu, Theragathâ, Therîgathâ, Jâtaka, Niddesa, Pa@tisambhidâmagga, Apadâna, Buddhava@msa, Caryâpi@taka.

The Abhidhammas are Pa@t@thâna, Dhammasa@nga@ni, Dhâtukathâ, Puggalapaññatti, Vibha@nga, Yamaka and Kathâvatthu.

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There exists also a large commentary literature on diverse parts of the above works known as atthakathâ. The work known as Milinda Pañha (questions of King Milinda), of uncertain date, is of considerable philosophical value.

The doctrines and views incorporated in the above literature is generally now known as Sthaviravâda or Theravâda. On the origin of the name Theravâda (the doctrine of the elders) Dîpava@msa says that since the Theras (elders) met (at the first council) and collected the doctrines it was known as the Thera Vâda [Footnote ref 2]. It does not appear that Buddhism as it appears in this Pâli literature developed much since the time of Buddhagho@sa (4OO A.D.), the writer of Visuddhimagga (a compendium of theravâda doctrines) and the commentator of Dîghanikâya, Dhammasa@nga@ni, etc.

Hindu philosophy in later times seems to have been influenced by the later offshoots of the different schools of Buddhism, but it does not appear that Pâli Buddhism had any share in it. I

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[Footnote 1: See Buddhagho@sa’s Atthasâlini, p. 25.]

[Footnote 2: Oldenberg’s Dîpava@msa, p. 31.]

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have not been able to discover any old Hindu writer who could be considered as being acquainted with Pâli.

The Doctrine of Causal Connection of early Buddhism [Footnote ref 1].

The word Dhamma in the Buddhist scriptures is used generally in four senses: (1) Scriptural texts, (2) quality (_gu@na_), (3) cause (_hetu_) and (4) unsubstantial and soulless (_nissatta nijjîva_ [Footnote ref 2]). Of these it is the last meaning which is particularly important, from the point of view of Buddhist philosophy. The early Buddhist philosophy did not accept any fixed entity as determining all reality; the only things with it were the unsubstantial phenomena and these were called dhammas. The question arises that if there is no substance or reality how are we to account for the phenomena? But the phenomena are happening and passing away and the main point of interest with the Buddha was to find out “What being what else is,” “What happening what else happens” and “What not being what else is not.” The phenomena are happening in a series and we see that there being certain phenomena there become some others; by the happening of some events others also are produced. This is called (_pa@ticcasamuppâda_) dependent origination. But it is difficult to

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understand what is the exact nature of this dependence. The question as Sa@myutta Nikâya (II. 5) has it with which the Buddha started before attaining Buddhahood was this: in what miserable condition are the people! they are born, they decay, they die, pass away and are born again; and they do not know the path of escape from this decay, death and misery.

How to know the Way to escape from this misery of decay and death. Then it occurred to him what being there, are decay and death, depending on what do they come? As he thought deeply into the root of the matter, it occurred to him that decay and death can only occur when there is birth (_jâti_), so they depend

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[Footnote 1: There are some differences of opinion as to whether one could take the doctrine of the twelve links of causes as we find it in the Sa@myutta Nikâya as the earliest Buddhist view, as Sa@myutta does not represent the oldest part of the suttas. But as this doctrine of the twelve causes became regarded as a fundamental Buddhist doctrine and as it gives us a start in philosophy I have not thought it fit to enter into conjectural discussions as to the earliest form. Dr E.J. Thomas drew my attention to this fact.]

[Footnote 2: Atthasâtinî, p. 38. There are also other senses in which

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the word is used, as dhamma-desanâ where it means religious teaching.

The La@nkâvatâra described Dharmma as gu@nadravyapûrvakâ dharmmâ, i.e.

Dharmmas are those which are associated as attributes and substances.]

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on birth. What being there, is there birth, on what does birth depend? Then it occurred to him that birth could only be if there were previous existence (_bhava_) [Footnote ref 1]. But on what does this existence depend, or what being there is there bhava. Then it occurred to him that there could not be existence unless there were holding fast (_upâdâna_) [Footnote ref 2]. But on what did upâdâna depend? It occurred to him that it was desire (_ta@nhâ_) on which upâdâna depended. There can be upâdâna if there is desire (_tanhâ_) [Footnote ref 3]. But what being there, can there be desire? To this question it occurred to him that there must be feeling (_vedanâ_) in order that there may be desire. But on what does vedanâ depend, or rather what must be there, that there may be feeling (_vedanâ_)? To this it occurred to him that there must be a sense-contact (_phassa_) in order that there may be feeling [Footnote ref 4]. If there should be no sense-contact there would be no feeling. But on what does sense-contact depend? It occurred to him that as there are six sense-contacts, there are the six fields of contact (_âyatana_) [Footnote ref 5]. But on what do the six âyatanas depend? It occurred to him that there must be the mind and body (_nâmarûpa_) in order that there

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may be the six fields of contact [Footnote ref 6]; but on what does nâmarûpa depend? It occurred to him that without consciousness (_viññâna_) there could be no nâmarûpa [Footnote ref 8].

But what being there would there

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[Footnote 1: This word bhava is interpreted by Candrakîrtti in his Mâdhyamîka v@rtti, p. 565 (La Vallée Poussin’s edition) as the deed which brought about rebirth (_punarbhavajanaka@m karma samutthâpayali kâyena vâcâ manasâ ca_).]

[Footnote 2: Atthasâlinî, p. 385, upâdânantida@lhagaha@na@m.

Candrakîrtti

in explaining upâdâna says that whatever thing a man desires he holds fast to the materials necessary for attaining it (_yatra vastuni sat@r@s@nastasya vastuno ‘rjanâya vi@dhapanâya upâdânamupâdatte tatra tatra prârthayate_). Mâdhyamîka v@rtti, p. 565.]

[Footnote 3: Candrakîrtti describes t@r@s@nâ as âsvadanâbhinandanâdhyavasânasthânâdâtmapriyarûpairviyogo mâ bhût, nityamaparityâgo bhavediti, yeyam prârthanâ—the desire that there may not ever be any separation from those pleasures, etc., which are dear to us. Ibid. 565.]

[Footnote 4: We read also of phassâyatana and phassakâya. M. N. II. 261,

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III. 280, etc. Candrakîrtti says that @sa@dbhirâyatanadvârai@h k@rtyaprak@riyâ@h pravarttante prajñâyante. tannâmarûpapratyaya@m @sa@dâyatanamucyate. sa@dbhyas`câyatanebhya@h @sa@tsparsàkâyâ@h pravarttante. M.V. 565.]

[Footnote 5: Âyatana means the six senses together with their objects.

Âyatana literally is “Field of operation.” Sa@lâyatana means six senses as six fields of operation. Candrakîrtti has âyatanadvârai@h.]

[Footnote 6: I have followed the translation of Aung in rendering nâmarûpa as mind and body, Compendium, p. 271. This seems to me to be fairly correct. The four skandhas are called nâma in each birth. These together with rûpa (matter) give us nâmarûpa (mind and body) which being developed

render the activities through the six sense-gates possible so that there may be knowledge. Cf. M. V. 564. Govindânanda, the commentator on S’a@nkara’s bhâsya on the Brahma sûtras (II. ii. 19), gives a different interpretation of Namarûpa which may probably refer to the Vijñanavada view though we have no means at hand to verify it. He says—To think the momentary as the permanent is Avidya; from there come the samskaras of attachment, antipathy or anger, and infatuation; from there the first vijñana or thought of the foetus is produced, from that alayavijnana, and the four elements (which are objects of name and are hence called nama)

are produced, and from those are produced the white and black, semen and blood called rûpa. Both Vacaspati and Amalananda agree with

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Govindananda in holding that nama signifies the semen and the ovum while rûpa means the visible physical body built out of them. Vijñaña entered the womb and on account of it namarupa were produced through the association of previous karma. See Vedantakalpataru, pp 274, 275. On the doctrine of the entrance of vijñaña into the womb compare D N II. 63.]

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be viññâna. Here it occurred to him that in order that there might be viññâna there must be the conformations (_sa@nkhâra_) [Footnote

ref 1]. But what being there are there the sa@nkhâras? Here it occurred to him that the sa@nkhâras can only be if there is ignorance (_avijjâ_). If avijjâ could be stopped then the sa@nkhâras will be stopped, and if the sa@nkhâras could be stopped viññâna could be stopped and so on [Footnote ref 2].

It is indeed difficult to be definite as to what the Buddha actually wished to mean by this cycle of dependence of existence sometimes called Bhavacakra (wheel of existence). Decay and death (_jarâmarana_) could not have happened if there was no birth [Footnote ref 3]. This seems to be clear. But at this point the difficulty begins. We must remember that the theory of rebirth was

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[Footnote 1: It is difficult to say what is the exact sense of the word here. The Buddha was one of the first few earliest thinkers to introduce proper philosophical terms and phraseology with a distinct philosophical method and he had often to use the same word in more or less different senses. Some of the philosophical terms at least are therefore rather elastic when compared with the terms of precise and definite meaning which we find in later Sanskrit thought. Thus in S N III. p. 87, “_Sankhata@m abdisa@nkharonta_,” sa@nkhara means that which synthesises

the complexes. In the Compendium it is translated as will, action.

Mr. Aung thinks that it means the same as karma; it is here used in a different sense from what we find in the word sa@nkhâta khandha (viz mental states). We get a list of 51 mental states forming sa@nkhâta khandha in Dhamma Sangam, p 18, and another different set of 40

mental

states in Dharmasamgraha, p. 6. In addition to these forty cittasamprayuktasa@mskâra, it also counts thirteen cittaviprayuktasa@mskara. Candrakirtti interprets it as meaning attachment, antipathy and infatuation, p 563. Govindananda, the commentator on S’a@nkara’s Brahma sutra (II. ii. 19), also interprets the word in connection with the doctrine of Pratityasamutpada as attachment, antipathy and infatuation.]

[Footnote 2: Samyutta Nikaya, II. 7-8.]

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[Footnote 3: Jara and marana bring in s’oka (grief), paridevanâ (lamentation), duhkha (suffering), daurmanasya (feeling of wretchedness and miserableness) and upayasa (feeling of extreme destitution) at the prospect of one’s death or the death of other dear ones. All these make up suffering and are the results of jâti (birth). M. V.

(B.T.S.p. 208). S’a@nkara in his bhâsya counted all the terms from jarâ, separately. The whole series is to be taken as representing the entirety of duhkhaskandha.]

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enunciated in the Upani@sads. The B@rhadâra@nyaka says that just as an insect going to the end of a leaf of grass by a new effort collects itself in another so does the soul coming to the end of this life collect itself in another. This life thus presupposes another existence. So far as I remember there has seldom been before or after Buddha any serious attempt to prove or disprove the doctrine of rebirth [Footnote ref 1]. All schools of philosophy except the Cârvâkas believed in it and so little is known to us of the Cârvâka sûtras that it is difficult to say what they did to refute this doctrine. The Buddha also accepts it as a fact and does not criticize it. This life therefore comes only as one which had an infinite number of lives before, and which except in the case of a few emancipated ones would have an infinite number of them in the future. It was strongly believed by all people, and the

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Buddha also, when he came to think to what our present birth might be due, had to fall back upon another existence (_bhava_).

If bhava means karma which brings rebirth as Candrakîrtti takes it to mean, then it would mean that the present birth could only take place on account of the works of a previous existence which determined it. Here also we are reminded of the Upani@sad note “as a man does so will he be born” (_Yat karma kurute tadabhisampadyate_,

Brh IV. iv. 5). Candrakîrtti’s interpretation of “bhava”

as Karma (_punarbhavajanakam karma_) seems to me to suit better than “existence.” The word was probably used rather loosely for kammabhava. The word bhava is not found in the earlier Upani@sads and was used in the Pâli scriptures for the first time as a philosophical term. But on what does this bhava depend? There could not have been a previous existence if people had not betaken themselves to things or works they desired. This betaking oneself to actions or things in accordance with desire is called upâdâna. In the Upani@sads we read, “whatever one betakes himself to, so does he work” (_Yatkraturbhavati tatkarmma kurute_, B@rh. IV. iv. 5). As this betaking to the thing depends upon desire {_t@r@s@nâ_}, it is said that in order that there may be upâdâna there must be tanhâ. In the Upani@sads also we read “Whatever one desires so does he betake himself to” (_sa yathâkâmo bhavati tatkraturbhavati_). Neither the word upâdâna nor t@rs@nâ (the Sanskrit word corresponding

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[Footnote 1: The attempts to prove the doctrine of rebirth in the Hindu philosophical works such as the Nyâya, etc., are slight and inadequate.]

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to ta@nhâ) is found in the earlier Upani@sads, but the ideas contained in them are similar to the words “_kratu_” and “_kâma_.” Desire (ta@nhâ) is then said to depend on feeling or sense-contact.

Sense-contact presupposes the six senses as fields of operation [Footnote ref 1]. These six senses or operating fields would again presuppose the whole psychosis of the man (the body and the mind together) called nâmarûpa. We are familiar with this word in the Upani@sads but there it is used in the sense of determinate forms and names as distinguished from the indeterminate indefinable reality [Footnote ref 2]. Buddhagho@sa in the Visuddhimagga says that by “Name” are meant the three groups beginning with sensation (i.e. sensation, perception and the predisposition); by “Form”

the four elements and form derivative from the four elements [Footnote ref 3]. He further says that name by itself can produce physical changes, such as eating, drinking, making movements or the like. So form also cannot produce any of those changes by itself. But like the cripple and the blind they mutually help one another and effectuate the changes [Footnote ref 4]. But there exists no heap or

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collection of material for the production of Name and Form; “but just as when a lute is played upon, there is no previous store of sound; and when the sound comes into existence it does not come from any such store; and when it ceases, it does not go to any of the cardinal or intermediate points of the compass;…in exactly the same way all the elements of being both those with form and those without, come into existence after having previously been nonexistent and having come into existence pass away [Footnote ref 5].”

Nâmarûpa taken in this sense will not mean the whole of mind and body, but only the sense functions and the body which are found to operate in the six doors of sense (_sa@lâyatana_). If we take nâmarûpa in this sense, we can see that it may be said to depend upon the viññâna (consciousness). Consciousness has been compared in the Milinda Pañha with a watchman at the middle of

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[Footnote 1: The word âyatana is found in many places in the earlier Upani@sads in the sense of “field or place,” Châ. I. 5, B@rh. III. 9.

10, but @sa@dâyatana does not occur.]

[Footnote 2: Candrakîrtti interprets nâma as Vedanâdayo’

rûpi@nas’catvâra@h skandhâstatra tatra bhave nâmayantîli nâma. saha rûpaskandhena ca nâma rûpam ceti nâmarûpamucyate. The four skandhas in each specific birth act as name. These together with rûpa make

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nâmarûpa. M. V. 564.]

[Footnote 3: Warren’s Buddhism in Translations, p. 184.]

[Footnote 4: Ibid. p. 185, Visuddhimagga, Ch. XVII.]

[Footnote 5: Ibid. pp. 185-186, Visuddhimagga, Ch. XVII.]

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the cross-roads beholding all that come from any direction [Footnote ref 1]. Buddhagho@sa in the Atthasâlinî also says that consciousness means that which thinks its object. If we are to define its characteristics we must say that it knows (_vijânana_), goes in advance (_pubba@ngama_), connects (_sandhâna_), and stands on nâmarûpa (_nâmarûpapada@t@thânam_).

When the consciousness gets a door, at a place the objects of sense are discerned (_ârammana-vibhâvana@t@thâne_) and it goes first as the precursor. When a visual object is seen by the eye it is known only by the consciousness, and when the dhammas are made the objects of (mind) mano, it is known only by the consciousness [Footnote ref 2].

Buddhagho@sa also refers here to the passage in the Milinda Pañha we have just referred to. He further goes on to say that when states of consciousness rise one after another, they leave no gap between the previous state and the later and consciousness therefore appears as connected. When there are the aggregates of the five khandhas it

ii. 19, explains “bhava” as that from which anything becomes, as merit and demerit (_dharmâdi_). See also Vibhanga, p. 137 and Warren’s Buddhism in Translations, p. 201. Mr Aung says in Abhidhammatthasa@ngaha, p. 189, that bhavo includes kammabhavo (the

active side of an existence) and upapattibhavo (the passive side).

And the commentators say that bhava is a contraction of “_kammabhava_”

or Karma-becoming i.e. karmic activity.]

[Footnote 2: Prof. De la Vallée Poussin in his Théoric des Douze Causes, p. 26, says that S’âlistambhasûtra explains the word “upâdâna” as “t@r@s@nâvaipulya” or hyper-t@r@s@nâ and Candrakîrtti also gives the same meaning, M. V. (B.T.S.p. 210). Govmdânanda explains “upâdâna”

as prav@rtti (movement) generated by t@r@s@nâ (desire), i.e. the active tendency in pursuance of desire. But if upâdâna means “support” it would denote all the five skandhas. Thus Madhyamaka v@rtti says upâdânam pañcaskandhalak@sa@nam…pañcopâdânaskandhâkhyam upâdânam. M.V.

XXVII. 6.]

[Footnote 3: Poussin’s Théorie des Douze Causes, p. 23.

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birth [Footnote ref 1]. The manner in which the vijñâna produced in the womb is determined by the past vijñâna of the previous existence is according to some authorities of the nature of a reflected image,

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like the transmission of learning from the teacher to the disciple, like the lighting of a lamp from another lamp or like the impress of a stamp on wax. As all the skandhas are changing in life, so death also is but a similar change; there is no great break, but the same uniform sort of destruction and coming into being.

New skandhas are produced as simultaneously as the two scale pans of a balance rise up and fall, in the same manner as a lamp is lighted or an image is reflected. At the death of the man the vijñâna resulting from his previous karmas and vijñânas enters into the womb of that mother (animal, man or the gods) in which the next skandhas are to be matured. This vijñâna thus forms the principle of the new life. It is in this vijñâna that name (_nâma_) and form (_rûpa_) become associated.

The vijñâna is indeed a direct product of the sa@mskâras and the sort of birth in which vijñâna should bring down (_nâmayati_) the new existence (_upapatti_) is determined by the sa@mskâras [Footnote ref 2], for in reality the happening of death (_mara@nabhava_) and the instillation of the vijñâna as the beginning of the new life (_upapattibhava_) cannot be simultaneous, but the latter succeeds just at the next moment, and it is to signify this close succession that they are said to be simultaneous. If the vijñâna had not entered the womb then no nâmarûpa could have appeared [Footnote ref 3].

This chain of twelve causes extends over three lives. Thus

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avidyâ and sa@mskâra of the past life produce the vijñâna, nâmarupa,

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[Footnote 1: The deities of the gardens, the woods, the trees and the plants, finding the master of the house, Citta, ill said “make your resolution, ‘May I be a cakravarttî king in a next existence,’”

Sa@myutta, IV. 303.]

[Footnote 2: “_sa cedânandavijñâna@m mâtu@hkuk@sim nâvakrâmeta, na tat

kalalam kalalatvâya sannivartteta_,” M. V. 552. Compare Caraka, S’ârîra, III. 5-8, where he speaks of a “upapîduka sattva” which connects the soul with body and by the absence of which the character is changed, the senses become affected and life ceases, when it is in a pure condition one can remember even the previous births; character, purity, antipathy, memory, fear, energy, all mental qualities are produced out of it. Just as a chariot is made by the combination of many elements, so is the foetus.]

[Footnote 3: Madhyamaka v@riti (B.T.S. 202-203). Poussin quotes from Dîgha, II. 63, “si le vijñâna ne descendait pas dans le sein maternel la namarupa s’y constituerait-il?” Govindânanda on S’a@nkara’s commentary

on the Brahmasûtras (II. ii. 19) says that the first consciousness (vijñâna) of the foetus is produced by the sa@mskâras of the previous

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birth, and from that the four elements (which he calls nâma) and from that the white and red, semen and ovum, and the first stage of the foetus (_kalala-budbudâvasthâ_} is produced.]

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@sa@dâyatana, spars’a, vedanâ, t@r@s@nâ, upâdâna and the bhava (leading to another life) of the present actual life. This bhava produces the jâti and jarâmara@na of the next life [Footnote ref l].

It is interesting to note that these twelve links in the chain extending in three sections over three lives are all but the manifestations of sorrow to the bringing in of which they naturally determine one another. Thus Abhidhammatthasa@ngaha says “each of these twelve terms is a factor. For the composite term ‘sorrow,’ etc. is only meant to show incidental consequences of birth. Again when ‘ignorance’ and ‘the actions of the mind’ have been taken into account, craving (_t@r@s@nâ_), grasping (_upâdâna_) and (_karma_) becoming (_bhava_) are implicitly accounted for also. In the same manner when craving, grasping and (_karma_) becoming have been taken into account, ignorance and the actions of the mind are (implicitly) accounted for, also; and when birth, decay, and death are taken into account, even the fivefold fruit, to wit (rebirth), consciousness, and the rest are accounted for. And thus:

suttanta. We find it also in Abhidhammatthasa@ngaha, VIII. 3.

Ignorance

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and the actions of the mind belong to the past; “birth,” “decay and death”

to the future; the intermediate eight to the present. It is styled as tri@kâ@n@daka (having three branches) in Abhidkarmakos’a, III. 20-24.

Two in the past branch, two in the future and eight in the middle “_sa pratîtyasamutpâdo dvâdas’â@ngastrikâ@n@daka@h pûrvâparântayordve dve

madhye@s@tau_.”]

[Footnote 2: Aung and Mrs Rhys Davids’ translation of Abhidhammatthasa@ngaha, pp. 189-190.]

[Footnote 3: The twelve links are not always constant. Thus in the list given in the Dialogues of the Buddha, II. 23 f., avijjâ and sa@nkhâra have been omitted and the start has been made with consciousness, and it has been said that “Cognition turns back from name and form; it goes not beyond.”]

[Footnote 4: M. V. p. 5 f.]

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Samutpâda means appearance or arising (_prâdurbhdâva_) and pratîtya means after getting (_prati+i+ya_); combining the two we find, arising after getting (something). The elements, depending on which there is some kind of arising, are called hetu (cause) and paccaya (ground). These two words however are often used in

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the same sense and are interchangeable. But paccaya is also used in a specific sense. Thus when it is said that avijjâ is the paccaya of sa@nkhâra it is meant that avijjâ is the ground (_@thiti_) of the origin of the sa@nkhâras, is the ground of their movement, of the instrument through which they stand (_nimitta@t@thiti_), of their ayuhana (conglomeration), of their interconnection, of their intelligibility, of their conjoint arising, of their function as cause and of their function as the ground with reference to those which are determined by them. Avijjâ in all these nine ways is the ground of sa@nkhâra both in the past and also in the future, though avijjâ itself is determined in its turn by other grounds [Footnote ref 1]. When we take the betu aspect of the causal chain, we cannot think of anything else but succession, but when we take the paccaya aspect we can have a better vision into the nature of the cause as ground. Thus when avijjâ is said to be the ground of the sa@nkhâras in the nine ways mentioned above, it seems reasonable to think that the sa@nkhâras were in some sense regarded as special manifestations of avijjâ [Footnote ref 2]. But as this point was not further developed in the early Buddhist texts it would be unwise to proceed further with it.

The Khandhas.

The word khandha (Skr. skandha) means the trunk of a tree

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and is generally used to mean group or aggregate [Footnote ref 3]. We have seen that Buddha said that there was no âtman (soul). He said that when people held that they found the much spoken of soul, they really only found the five khandhas together or any one of them. The khandhas are aggregates of bodily and psychical states which are immediate with us and are divided into five

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[Footnote 1: See Pa@tisambhidâmagga, vol. I.p. 50; see also Majjhima Nikâya, I. 67, sa@nkhâra…avijjânidânâ avijjâsamudayâ avijjâjâtikâ avijjâpabhavâ.]

[Footnote 2: In the Yoga derivation of asmitâ (egoism), râga (attachment), dve@sa (antipathy) and abhinives’a (self love) from avidyâ we find also that all the five are regarded as the five special stages of the growth of avidyâ (_pañcaparvî avidyâ_).]

[Footnote 3: The word skandha is used in Chândogya, II. 23 (_trayo dharmaskandhâ@h yajña@h adhyayanam dânam_) in the sense of branches and in almost the same sense in Maitrî, VII. II.]

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classes: (1) rûpa (four elements, the body, the senses), sense

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data, etc., (2) vedanâ (feeling—pleasurable, painful and indifferent), (3) saññâ (conceptual knowledge), (4) sa@nkhâra (synthetic mental states and the synthetic functioning of compound sense-affections, compound feelings and compound concepts), (5) viññâna (consciousness) [Footnote ref 1].

All these states rise depending one upon the other (_pa@ticcasamuppanna_)

and when a man says that he perceives the self he only deludes himself, for he only perceives one or more of these. The word rûpa in rûpakhandha stands for matter and material qualities, the senses, and the sense data [Footnote ref 2]. But “rûpa” is also used in the sense of pure organic affections or states of mind as we find in the Khandha Yamaka, I.p. 16, and also in Sa@myutta Nikâya, III. 86. Rûpaskandha according to Dharmasa@mgraha means the aggregate of five senses, the five sensations, and the implicatory communications associated in sense perceptions vijñapti).

The elaborate discussion of Dhammasa@nga@ni begins by defining rûpa as “_cattâro ca mahâbhûtâ catunnañca mahâbhntanam upâdâya rûpam_” (the four mahâbhûtas or elements and that proceeding from the grasping of that is called rûpa) [Footnote ref 3].

Buddhagho@sa explains it by saying that rûpa means the four mahâbhûtas and those which arise depending (_nissâya_) on them as a modification of them. In the rûpa the six senses including their affections are also included. In explaining why the four

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elements are called mahâbhûtas, Buddhagho@sa says: “Just as a magician (_mâyâkâra_) makes the water which is not hard appear as hard, makes the stone which is not gold appear as gold; just as he himself though not a ghost nor a bird makes himself appear as a ghost or a bird, so these elements though not themselves blue make themselves appear as blue (_nîlam upâdâ rûpam_), not yellow, red, or white make themselves appear as yellow, red or white (odâtam upâdârûpam), so on account of their similarity to the appearances created by the magician they are called mahâbhûta [Footnote ref 4].”

In the Sa@myutta Nikâya we find that the Buddha says, “O

Bhikkhus it is called rûpam because it manifests (_rûpyati_); how

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[Footnote 1: Sa@myutta Nikâya, III. 86, etc.]

[Footnote 2: Abhidhammatthasangaha, J.P.T.S. 1884, p. 27 ff.]

[Footnote 3: Dhammasa@nga@ni, pp. 124-179.]

[Footnote 4: Atthasâlinî, p. 299.]

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does it manifest? It manifests as cold, and as heat, as hunger and as thirst, it manifests as the touch of gnats, mosquitos, wind, the sun and the snake; it manifests, therefore it is called rûpa [Footnote ref 1].”

If we take the somewhat conflicting passages referred to above for our consideration and try to combine them so as to understand what is meant by rûpa, I think we find that that which manifested itself to the senses and organs was called rûpa. No distinction seems to have been made between the sense-data as colours, smells, etc., as existing in the physical world and their appearance as sensations. They were only numerically different and the appearance of the sensations was dependent upon the sense-data and the senses but the sense-data and the sensations were “rûpa.” Under certain conditions the sense-data were followed by the sensations. Buddhism did not probably start with the same kind of division of matter and mind as we now do. And it may not be out of place to mention that such an opposition and duality were found neither in the Upani@sads nor in the Sâ@mkhya system which is regarded by some as pre-Buddhistic.

The four elements manifested themselves in certain forms and were therefore called rûpa; the forms of affection that appeared were also called rûpa; many other mental states or features which appeared with them were also called rûpa [Footnote ref 2]. The âyatanas or the senses were also called rûpa [Footnote ref 3]. The

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mahâbhûtas or four elements were themselves but changing manifestations, and they together with all that appeared in association with them were called rûpa and formed the rûpa khandha (the classes of sense-materials, sense-data, senses and sensations).

In Sa@myutta Nikâya (III. 101) it is said that “the four mahâbhûtas were the hetu and the paccaya for the communication of the rûpakkhandha (_rûpakkhandhassa paññâpanâya_). Contact (sense-contact, phassa) is the cause of the communication of feelings (_vedanâ_); sense-contact was also the hetu and paccaya for the communication of the saññâkkhandha; sense-contact is also the hetu and paccaya for the communication of the sa@nkhârakkhandha. But nâmarûpa is the hetu and the paccaya for the communication of the viññânakkhandha.” Thus not only feelings arise on account of the sense-contact but saññâ and sa@nkhâra also arise therefrom. Saññâ is that where specific knowing or

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[Footnote 1: Sa@myutta Nikâya, III. 86.]

[Footnote 2: Khandhayamaka.]

[Footnote 3: Dhammasanga@ni, p. 124 ff.]

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conceiving takes place. This is the stage where the specific distinctive knowledge as the yellow or the red takes place.

Mrs. Rhys Davids writing on saññâ says: “In editing the second book of the Abhidhamma pi@taka I found a classification distinguishing between saññâ as cognitive assimilation on occasion of sense, and saññâ as cognitive assimilation of ideas by way of naming. The former is called perception of resistance, or opposition (_patigha-saññâ_). This, writes Buddhagho@sa, is perception on occasion of sight, hearing, etc., when consciousness is aware of the impact of impressions; of external things as different, we might say. The latter is called perception of the equivalent word or name (_adhivachânâ-saññâ_) and is exercised by the sensus communis (mano), when e.g. ‘one is seated…and asks another who is thoughtful: “What are you thinking of?” one perceives through his speech.’ Thus there are two stages of saññâ-consciousness, 1. contemplating sense-impressions, 2. ability to know what they are by naming [Footnote ref 1].”

The afflictions (_kilesas_) do not differ much from the âsavas for they are but the specific passions in forms ordinarily familiar to us, such as covetousness (_lobha_), anger or hatred (_dosa_), infatuation (_moha_), arrogance, pride or vanity (_mâna_), heresy (_di@t@thi_), doubt or uncertainty (_vicikicchâ_), idleness (_thîna_), boastfulness (_udhacca_), shamelessness (_ahirika_) and hardness of heart anottapa); these kilesas proceed directly as a result of the âsavas.

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In spite of these varieties they are often counted as three (lobha, dosa, moha) and these together are called kilesa. They are associated with the vedanâkkhandha, saññâkkhandha, sa@nkhârakkhandha and viññânakkhandha. From these arise the three kinds of actions, of speech, of body, and of mind [Footnote ref 1].

Sîla and Samâdhi.

We are intertwined all through outside and inside by the tangles of desire (_ta@nhâ ja@tâ_), and the only way by which these may be loosened is by the practice of right discipline (_sîla_), concentration (_samâdhi_) and wisdom (_paññâ_). Sîla briefly means the desisting from committing all sinful deeds (_sabbapâpassa akara@nam_). With sîla therefore the first start has to be made, for by it one ceases to do all actions prompted by bad desires and thereby removes the inrush of dangers and disturbances.

This serves to remove the kilesas, and therefore the proper performance of the sîla would lead one to the first two successive stages of sainthood, viz. the sotâpannabhâva (the stage in which one is put in the right current) and the sakadâgâmibhâva (the stage when one has only one more birth to undergo). Samâdhi is a more advanced effort, for by it all the old roots of the old kilesas are destroyed and the ta@nhâ or desire is removed and

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[Footnote 1: Dhammasa@nga@ni, p. 180.]

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by it one is led to the more advanced states of a saint. It directly brings in paññâ (true wisdom) and by paññâ the saint achieves final emancipation and becomes what is called an arhat [Footnote ref 1]. Wisdom (_paññâ_) is right knowledge about the four âriya saccas, viz. sorrow, its cause, its destruction and its cause of destruction.

Sîla means those particular volitions and mental states, etc.

by which a man who desists from committing sinful actions maintains himself on the right path. Sîla thus means 1. right volition (_cetanâ_), 2. the associated mental states (_cetasika_), 3. mental control (_sa@mvara_) and 4. the actual non-transgression (in body and speech) of the course of conduct already in the mind by the preceding three sîlas called avîtikkama. Sa@mvara is spoken of as being of five kinds, 1. Pâ@timokkhasa@mvara (the control which saves him who abides by it), 2. Satisa@mvara (the control of mindfulness), 3. Ñânasa@mvara (the control of knowledge), 4. Khantisa@mvara (the control of patience), 5. Viriyasa@mvara (the control of active self-restraint). Pâ@timokkhasa@mvara

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means all self-control in general. Satisa@mvara means the mindfulness by which one can bring in the right and good associations when using one’s cognitive senses. Even when looking at any tempting object he will by virtue of his mindfulness (_sati_) control himself from being tempted by avoiding to think of its tempting side and by thinking on such aspects of it as may lead in the right direction. Khantisa@mvara is that by which one can remain unperturbed in heat and cold. By the proper adherence to sîla all our bodily, mental and vocal activities (_kamma_) are duly systematized, organized, stabilized (_samâdhânam, upadhâra@na@m, pati@t@thâ_) [Footnote ref 2].

The sage who adopts the full course should also follow a number of healthy monastic rules with reference to dress, sitting, dining, etc., which are called the dhûta@ngas or pure disciplinary parts [Footnote ref 3]. The practice of sîla and the dhûtangas help the sage to adopt the course of samâdhi. Samâdhi as we have seen means the concentration of the mind bent on right endeavours (_kusalacittekaggatâ

samâdhi@h_) together with its states upon one particular object (_ekâramma@na_) so that they may completely cease to shift and change (_sammâ ca avikkhipamânâ_) [Footnote ref 4].

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[Footnote 1: Visuddhimagga Nidânâdikathâ.]

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[Footnote 2: Visuddhimagga-sîlaniddeso, pp. 7 and 8.]

[Footnote 3: Visuddhimagga, II.]

[Footnote 4: Visuddhimagga, pp. 84-85.]

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The man who has practised sîla must train his mind first in particular ways, so that it may be possible for him to acquire the chief concentration of meditation called jhâna (fixed and steady meditation). These preliminary endeavours of the mind for the acquirement of jhânasamâdhi eventually lead to it and are called upacâra samâdhi (preliminary samâdhi) as distinguished from the jhânasamâdhi called the appanâsamâdhi (achieved samâdhi) [Footnote ref 1]. Thus as a preparatory measure, firstly he has to train his mind continually to view with disgust the appetitive desires for eating and drinking (_âhâre pa@tikkûlasaññâ_) by emphasizing in the mind the various troubles that are associated in seeking food and drink and their ultimate loathsome transformations as various nauseating bodily elements. When a man continually habituates himself to emphasize the disgusting associations of food and drink, he ceases to have any attachment

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to them and simply takes them as an unavoidable evil, only awaiting the day when the final dissolution of all sorrows will come [Footnote ref 2]. Secondly he has to habituate his mind to the idea that all the parts of our body are made up of the four elements, k@siti (earth), ap (water), tejas (fire) and wind (air), like the carcase of a cow at the butcher’s shop. This is technically called catudhâtuvavatthânabhâvanâ (the meditation of the body as being made up of the four elements) [Footnote ref 3]. Thirdly he has to habituate his mind to think again and again (_anussati_) about the virtues or greatness of the Buddha, the sa@ngha (the monks following the Buddha), the gods and the law (_dhamma_) of the Buddha, about the good effects of sîla, and the making of gifts (_câgânussati_), about the nature of death (_mara@nânussati_) and about the deep nature and qualities of the final extinction of all phenomena (_upasamânussati_) [Footnote ref 4].

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[Footnote 1: As it is not possible for me to enter into details, I follow what appears to me to be the main line of division showing the interconnection of jhâna (Skr. dhyâna) with its accessory stages called parikammas (_Visuddhimagga,_ pp. 85 f.).]

[Footnote 2: Visuddhimagga, pp. 341-347; mark the intense pessimistic attitude, “_Imañ ca pana âhâre pa@tikulasaññâ@m anuyuttassa bhikkhu@no

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rasata@nhâya cittam pa@tilîyati, pa@tiku@t@tati, pa@tiva@t@tati; so, kantâranitthara@na@t@thiko viya puttama@msa@m vigatamado âhâra@m âhâreti

yâvad eva dukkhassa ni@t@thara@natthâya_,” p. 347. The mind of him who inspires himself with this supreme disgust to all food, becomes free from all desires for palatable tastes, and turns its back to them and flies off from them. As a means of getting rid of all sorrow he takes his food without any attachment as one would eat the flesh of his own son to sustain himself in crossing a forest.]

[Footnote 3: Visuddhimagga, pp. 347-370.]

[Footnote 4: Visuddhimagga, pp. 197-294.]

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Advancing further from the preliminary meditations or preparations called the upacâra samâdhi we come to those other sources of concentration and meditation called the appanâsamâdhi which directly lead to the achievement of the highest samâdhi.

The processes of purification and strengthening of the mind continue in this stage also, but these represent the last attempts which lead the mind to its final goal Nibbâna. In the first part of this stage the sage has to go to the cremation grounds and notice the diverse horrifying changes of the human carcases and

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think how nauseating, loathsome, unsightly and impure they are, and from this he will turn his mind to the living human bodies and convince himself that they being in essence the same as the dead carcases are as loathsome as they [Footnote ref.1] This is called asubhakamma@t@thâna or the endeavour to perceive the impurity of our bodies. He should think of the anatomical parts and constituents of the body as well as their processes, and this will help him to enter into the first jhâna by leading his mind away from his body.

This is called the kayagatasati or the continual mindfulness about the nature of the body [Footnote ref 2]. As an aid to concentration the sage should sit in a quiet place and fix his mind on the inhaling (_passâsa_) and the exhaling (_âssâsa_) of his breath, so that instead of breathing in a more or less unconscious manner he may be aware whether he is breathing quickly or slowly; he ought to mark it definitely by counting numbers, so that by fixing his mind on the numbers counted he may fix his mind on the whole process of inhalation and exhalation in all stages of its course.

This is called the anapânasati or the mindfulness of inhalation and exhalation [Footnote ref 3]

Next to this we come to Brahmavihâra, the fourfold meditation of metta (universal friendship), karu@nâ (universal pity), muditâ (happiness in the prosperity and happiness of all) and upekkhâ (indifference to any kind of preferment of oneself, his friend, enemy or a third party). In order to habituate oneself to

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the meditation on universal friendship, one should start with thinking how he should himself like to root out all misery and become happy, how he should himself like to avoid death and live cheerfully, and then pass over to the idea that other beings would also have the same desires. He should thus habituate himself to think that his friends, his enemies, and all those with whom he is not

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[Footnote 1: Visuddhimagga, VI.]

[Footnote 2: Ibid. pp. 239-266.]

[Footnote 3: Ibid. pp. 266-292.]

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connected might all live and become happy. He should fix himself to such an extent in this meditation that he would not find any difference between the happiness or safety of himself and of others.

He should never become angry with any person. Should he at any time feel himself offended on account of the injuries inflicted on him by his enemies, he should think of the futility of doubling his sadness by becoming sorry or vexed on that account. He should think that if he should allow himself to be affected by

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anger, he would spoil all his sîla which he was so carefully practising.

If anyone has done a vile action by inflicting injury, should he himself also do the same by being angry at it? If he were finding fault with others for being angry, could he himself indulge in anger? Moreover he should think that all the dhammas are momentary (_kha@nikattâ_); that there no longer existed the khandhas which had inflicted the injury, and moreover the infliction of any injury being only a joint product, the man who was injured was himself an indispensable element in the production of the infliction as much as the man who inflicted the injury, and there could not thus be any special reason for making him responsible and of being angry with him. If even after thinking in this way the anger does not subside, he should think that by indulging in anger he could only bring mischief on himself through his bad deeds, and he should further think that the other man by being angry was only producing mischief to himself but not to him. By thinking in these ways the sage would be able to free his mind from anger against his enemies and establish himself in an attitude of universal friendship [Footnote ref 1]. This is called the mettâ-bhâvana. In the meditation of universal pity (_karu@nâ_) also one should sympathize with the sorrows of his friends and foes alike. The sage being more keen-sighted will feel pity for those who are apparently leading a happy life, but are neither acquiring merits nor endeavouring to proceed on the way to Nibbâna, for they are to suffer innumerable lives of sorrow [Footnote

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ref 2].

We next come to the jhânas with the help of material things as objects of concentration called the Kasi@nam. These objects of concentration may either be earth, water, fire, wind, blue colour, yellow colour, red colour, white colour, light or limited space (_parîcchinnâkâsa_). Thus the sage may take a brown ball of earth and concentrate his mind upon it as an earth ball, sometimes

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[Footnote 1: Visuddhimagga, pp. 295-314.]

[Footnote 2: Ibid. pp. 314-315.]

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with eyes open and sometimes with eyes shut. When he finds that even in shutting his eyes he can visualize the object in his mind, he may leave off the object and retire to another place to concentrate upon the image of the earth ball in his mind.

In the first stages of the first meditation (_pathamam jhânam_) the mind is concentrated on the object in the way of understanding it with its form and name and of comprehending it with its diverse

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relations. This state of concentration is called vitakka (discursive meditation). The next stage of the first meditation is that in which the mind does not move in the object in relational terms but becomes fixed and settled in it and penetrates into it without any quivering. This state is called vicâra (steadily moving). The first stage vitakka has been compared in Buddhagho@sa’s Visuddhimagga to the flying of a kite with its wings flapping, whereas the second stage is compared to its flying in a sweep without the least quiver of its wings. These two stages are associated with a buoyant exaltation (_pîti_) and a steady inward bliss called sukha [Footnote ref 1] instilling the mind. The formation of this first jhâna roots out five ties of avijjâ, kamacchando (dallying with desires), vyâpâdo (hatred), thinamiddham (sloth and torpor), uddhaccakukkuccam (pride and restlessness), and vicikicchâ (doubt).

Theravâda school with the Vibhajjavâdins. The commentator of the Kathâvatthu who probably lived according to Mrs Rhys Davids sometime in the fifth century A.D. mentions a few other schools of Buddhists. But of all these Buddhist schools we know very little.

Vasumitra (100 A.D.) gives us some very meagre accounts of

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[Footnote 1: The Mahâva@msa differs from Dîpava@msa in holding that

the Vajjiputtakas did not develop into the Mahâsa@nghikas, but it was the Mahâsa@nghikas who first seceded while the Vajjiputtakas seceded independently of them. The Mahâbodhiva@msa, which according to Professor Geiger was composed 975 A.D.—1000 A.D., follows the Mahava@msa in holding the Mahâsa@nghikas to be the first seceders and Vajjiputtakas to have seceded independently.

Vasumitra confuses the council of Vesali with the third council of Pâ@taliputra. See introduction to translation of Kathâvatthu by Mrs Rhys Davids.]

[Footnote 2: For other accounts of the schism see Mr Aung and Mrs Rhys Davids’s translation of Kathâvatthu, pp. xxxvi-xlv.]

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certain schools, of the Mahâsa@nghikas, Lokottaravâdins, Ekavyavahârikas, Kakkulikas, Prajñaptivâdins and Sarvâstivâdins, but these accounts deal more with subsidiary matters of little philosophical importance. Some of the points of interest are (1) that the Mahâsa@nghikas were said to believe that the body was filled with mind (_citta_) which was represented as sitting, (2) that the Prajñaptivâdins held that there was no agent in man, that there was no untimely death, for it was caused by the previous deeds of man, (3) that the Sarvâstivâdins believed that everything existed. From the discussions found in the Kathâvatthu also we may know the views of some of the schools on some points which are not always devoid of philosophical interest. But there is nothing to be found by which we can properly know the philosophy of these schools. It is quite possible however that these so-called schools of Buddhism were not so many different systems but only differed from one another on some points of dogma or practice which were considered as being of sufficient interest to them, but which to us now appear to be quite trifling. But as we do not know any of their literatures, it is better not to make any unwarrantable surmises.

These schools are however not very important for a history of later Indian Philosophy, for none of them are even referred to in any of the systems of Hindu thought. The only schools of Buddhism with which other schools of philosophical thought came in direct contact, are the Sarvâstivâdins including the Sautrântikas and the Vaibhâ@sikas, the Yogâcâra or the Vijñânavâdins and the

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Mâdhyamikas or the S’ûnyavâdins. We do not know which of the diverse smaller schools were taken up into these four great schools, the Sautrântika, Vaibhâ@sika, Yogâcâra and the Mâdhyamika schools. But as these schools were most important in relation to the development of the different systems in Hindu thought, it is best that we should set ourselves to gather what we can about these systems of Buddhistic thought.

When the Hindu writers refer to the Buddhist doctrine in general terms such as “the Buddhists say” without calling them the Vijñânavâdins or the Yogâcâras and the S’ûnyavâdins, they often refer to the Sarvûstivûdins by which they mean both the Sautrûntikas and the Vaibhû@sikas, ignoring the difference that exists between these two schools. It is well to mention that there is hardly any evidence to prove that the Hindu writers were acquainted with the Theravûda doctrines

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as expressed in the Pâli works. The Vaibhâ@sikas and the Sautrântikas have been more or less associated with each other. Thus the Abhidharmakos’as’âstra of Vasubandhu who was a Vaibhâ@sika was commented upon by Yas’omitra who was a Sautrântika. The difference between the Vaibhâ@sikas and the Sautrântikas that attracted the notice of the Hindu writers was this, that the former

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believed that external objects were directly perceived, whereas the latter believed that the existence of the external objects could only be inferred from our diversified knowledge [Footnote ref 1].

Gu@naratna (fourteenth century A.D.) in his commentary Tarkarahasyadîpikâ on @Sa@ddars’anasamuccaya says that the Vaibhâsika was but another name of the Âryasammitîya school. According to Gu@naratna the Vaibhâ@sikas held that things existed for four moments, the moment of production, the moment of existence, the moment of decay and the moment of annihilation. It has been pointed out in Vastlbandhu’s Abhidharmakos’a that the Vaibhâ@sikas believed these to be four kinds of forces which by coming in combination with the permanent essence of an entity produced its impermanent manifestations in life (see Prof. Stcherbatsky’s translation of Yas’omitra on Abhidharmakos’a kârikâ, V. 25). The self called pudgala also possessed those characteristics. Knowledge was formless and was produced along with its object by the very same conditions (_arthasahabhâsî ekasamâgryadhînah_). The Sautrântikas according to Gu@naratna held that there was no soul but only the five skandhas. These skandhas transmigrated. The past, the future, annihilation, dependence on cause, âkâs’a and pudgala are but names (_sa@mjñâmâtram_), mere assertions (_pratijñâmâtram_), mere limitations (_samv@rtamâtram_) and mere phenomena (_vyavahâramâtram_).

By pudgala they meant that which other people called eternal and all pervasive soul. External objects are never directly perceived but are only inferred as existing for explaining the

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diversity of knowledge. Definite cognitions are valid; all compounded things are momentary (_k@sa@nikâh sarvasa@mskârâh_).

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[Footnote 1: Mâdhavâcârya’s Sarvadars’anasa@mgraha, chapter II.

S’âstradîpikâ, the discussions on Pratyak@sa, Amalañanda’s commentary (on Bhâmatî) Vedântakalpataru, p 286. “_vaibhâ@sikasya bâhyo’rtha@h

pratyak@sa@h, sautrântikasya jñânagatâkâravaicitrye@n anumeya@h_.”

The

nature of the inference of the Sautrântikas is shown thus by Amalânanda (1247-1260 A.D.) “_ye yasmin satyapi kâdâcitkâ@h te tadatiriktâpek@sâ@h_” (those [i.e. cognitions] which in spite of certain unvaried conditions are of unaccounted diversity must depend on other things in addition to these, i.e. the external objects) Vedântakalpataru, p. 289.]

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The atoms of colour, taste, smell and touch, and cognition are being destroyed every moment. The meanings of words always imply the negations of all other things, excepting that which is intended to be signified by that word (_anyâpoha@h s’abdârtha@h_).

Salvation (_mok@sa_) comes as the result of the destruction of the process of knowledge through continual meditation that there

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is no soul [Footnote ref 1].

One of the main differences between the Vibhajjavâdins, Sautrântikas and the Vaibhâ@sikas or the Sarvâstivâdins appears to refer to the notion of time which is a subject of great interest with Buddhist philosophy. Thus Abhidharmakos’a (v. 24…) describes the Sarvâstivâdins as those who maintain the universal existence of everything past, present and future. The Vibhajjavâdins are those “who maintain that the present elements and those among the past that have not yet produced their fruition, are existent, but they deny the existence of the future ones and of those among the past that have already produced fruition.”

There were four branches of this school represented by Dharmatrâta, Gho@sa, Vasumitra and Buddhadeva. Dharmatrâta maintained that when an element enters different times, its existence changes but not its essence, just as when milk is changed into curd or a golden vessel is broken, the form of the existence changes though the essence remains the same. Gho@sa held that “when an element appears at different times, the past one retains its past aspects without being severed from its future and present aspects, the present likewise retains its present aspect without completely losing its past and future aspects,” just as a man in passionate love with a woman does not lose his capacity to love other women though he is not actually in love with them. Vasumitra held that an entity is called present, past and future according

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as it produces its efficiency, ceases to produce after having once produced it or has not yet begun to produce it. Buddhadeva maintained the view that just as the same woman may be called mother, daughter, wife, so the same entity may be called present, past or future in accordance with its relation to the preceding or the succeeding moment.

All these schools are in some sense Sarvâstivâdins, for they maintain universal existence. But the Vaibhâ@sika finds them all defective excepting the view of Vasumitra. For Dharmatrâta’s

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[Footnote 1: Gu@naratna’s Tarkarahasyadîpikâ, pp. 46-47.]

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view is only a veiled Sâ@mkhya doctrine; that of Gho@sa is a confusion of the notion of time, since it presupposes the coexistence of all the aspects of an entity at the same time, and that of Buddhadeva is also an impossible situation, since it would suppose that all the three times were found together and included in one of them. The Vaibhâ@sika finds himself in agreement with Vasumitra’s view and holds that the difference in time depends upon the difference of the function of an entity; at the

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time when an entity does not actually produce its function it is future; when it produces it, it becomes present; when after having produced it, it stops, it becomes past; there is a real existence of the past and the future as much as of the present. He thinks that if the past did not exist and assert some efficiency it could not have been the object of my knowledge, and deeds done in past times could not have produced its effects in the present time. The Sautrântika however thought that the Vaibhâ@sika’s doctrine would imply the heretical doctrine of eternal existence, for according to them the stuff remained the same and the time-difference appeared in it. The true view according to him was, that there was no difference between the efficiency of an entity, the entity and the time of its appearance. Entities appeared from nonexistence, existed for a moment and again ceased to exist. He objected to the Vaibhâ@sika view that the past is to be regarded as existent because it exerts efficiency in bringing about the present on the ground that in that case there should be no difference between the past and the present, since both exerted efficiency. If a distinction is made between past, present and future efficiency by a second grade of efficiencies, then we should have to continue it and thus have a vicious infinite. We can know nonexistent entities as much as we can know existent ones, and hence our knowledge of the past does not imply that the past is exerting any efficiency. If a distinction is made between an efficiency and an entity, then the reason why

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efficiency started at any particular time and ceased at another would be inexplicable. Once you admit that there is no difference between efficiency and the entity, you at once find that there is no time at all and the efficiency, the entity and the moment are all one and the same. When we remember a thing of the past we do not know it as existing in the past, but in the same way in which we knew it when it was present. We are

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never attracted to past passions as the Vaibhâ@sika suggests, but past passions leave residues which become the causes of new passions of the present moment [Footnote ref.1].

Again we can have a glimpse of the respective positions of the Vâtsiputtrîyas and the Sarvâstivâdins as represented by Vasubandhu if we attend to the discussion on the subject of the existence of soul in Abhidharmakos’a. The argument of Vasubandhu against the existence of soul is this, that though it is true that the sense organs may be regarded as a determining cause of perception, no such cause can be found which may render the inference of the existence of soul necessary.

If soul actually exists, it must have an essence of its own and must be something different from the elements or entities of a personal life. Moreover, such an eternal, uncaused and unchanging

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being would be without any practical efficiency (_arthakriyâkâritva_) which alone determines or proves existence. The soul can thus be said to have a mere nominal existence as a mere object of current usage. There is no soul, but there are only the elements of a personal life. But the Vâtsiputtrîya school held that just as fire could not be said to be either the same as the burning wood or as different from it, and yet it is separate from it, so the soul is an individual (_pudgala_) which has a separate existence, though we could not say that it was altogether different from the elements of a personal life or the same as these. It exists as being conditioned by the elements of personal life, but it cannot further be defined. But its existence cannot be denied, for wherever there is an activity, there must be an agent (e.g. Devadatta walks). To be conscious is likewise an action, hence the agent who is conscious must also exist.

To this Vasubandhu replies that Devadatta (the name of a person) does not represent an unity. “It is only an unbroken continuity of momentary forces (flashing into existence), which simple people believe to be a unity and to which they give the name Devadatta. Their belief that Devadatta moves is conditioned, and is based on an analogy with their own experience, but their own continuity of life consists in constantly moving from one place to another. This movement, though regarded as

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[Footnote 1: I am indebted for the above account to the unpublished translation from Tibetan of a small portion of Abhidharmakoia by my esteemed friend Prof. Th. Stcherbatsky of Petrograd. I am grateful to him that he allowed me to utilize it.]

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belonging to a permanent entity, is but a series of new productions in different places, just as the expressions ‘fire moves,’

‘sound spreads’ have the meaning of continuities (of new productions in new places). They likewise use the words ‘Devadatta cognises’ in order to express the fact that a cognition (takes place in the present moment) which has a cause (in the former moments, these former moments coming in close succession being called Devadatta).”

The problem of memory also does not bring any difficulty, for the stream of consciousness being one throughout, it produces its recollections when connected with a previous knowledge of the remembered object under certain conditions of attention, etc., and absence of distractive factors, such as bodily pains or violent emotions. No agent is required in the phenomena of memory. The cause of recollection is a suitable state of mind and nothing else. When the Buddha told his birth stories saying

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that he was such and such in such and such a life, he only meant that his past and his present belonged to one and the same lineage of momentary existences. Just as when we say “this same fire which had been consuming that has reached this object,” we know that the fire is not identical at any two moments, but yet we overlook the difference and say that it is the same fire. Again, what we call an individual can only be known by descriptions such as “this venerable man, having this name, of such a caste, of such a family, of such an age, eating such food, finding pleasure or displeasure in such things, of such an age, the man who after a life of such length, will pass away having reached an age.” Only so much description can be understood, but we have never a direct acquaintance with the individual; all that is perceived are the momentary elements of sensations, images, feelings, etc., and these happening at the former moments exert a pressure on the later ones. The individual is thus only a fiction, a mere nominal existence, a mere thing of description and not of acquaintance; it cannot be grasped either by the senses or by the action of pure intellect.

This becomes evident when we judge it by analogies from other fields. Thus whenever we use any common noun, e.g. milk, we sometimes falsely think that there is such an entity as milk, but what really exists is only certain momentary colours, tastes, etc., fictitiously unified as milk; and “just as milk and water are

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conventional names (for a set of independent elements) for some colour, smell (taste and touch) taken together, so is the designation ‘individual’ but a common name for the different elements of which it is composed.”

The reason why the Buddha declined to decide the question whether the “living being is identical with the body or not” is just because there did not exist any living being as “individual,”

as is generally supposed. He did not declare that the living being did not exist, because in that case the questioner would have thought that the continuity of the elements of a life was also denied. In truth the “living being” is only a conventional name for a set of constantly changing elements [Footnote ref 1].

The only book of the Sammitîyas known to us and that by name only is the Sammitîyas’âstra translated into Chinese between 350 A.D. to 431 A.D.; the original Sanskrit works are however probably lost [Footnote ref 2].

The Vaibhâ@sikas are identified with the Sarvâstivâdins who according to Dîpava@msa V. 47, as pointed out by Takakusu, branched off from the Mahîs’âsakas, who in their turn had separated from the Theravâda school.

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From the Kathâvatthu we know (1) that the Sabbatthivâdins believed that everything existed, (2) that the dawn of right attainment was not a momentary flash of insight but by a gradual process, (3) that consciousness or even samâdhi was nothing but

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[Footnote 1: This account is based on the translation of A@s@tamakos’asthânanibaddha@h pudgolavinis’caya@h, a special appendix

to the eighth chapter of Abhidharmakos’a, by Prof Th. Stcherbatsky, Bulletin de l’ Académie des Sciences de Russie, 1919.]

[Footnote 2: Professor De la Vallée Poussin has collected some of the points of this doctrine in an article on the Sammitîyas in the E. R.E.

He there says that in the Abhidharmakos’avyâkhyâ the Sammitîyas have been identified with the Vâtsîputtrîyas and that many of its texts were admitted by the Vaibhâ@sikas of a later age. Some of their views are as follows: (1) An arhat in possession of nirvâna can fall away; (2) there is an intermediate state between death and rebirth called antarâbhava; (3) merit accrues not only by gift (_tyagânvaya_) but also by the fact of the actual use and advantage reaped by the man to whom the thing was given (_paribhogânvaya pu@nya_); (4) not only abstention from evil deeds but a declaration of intention to that end produces merit by itself alone; (5)

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they believe in a pudgala (soul) as distinct from the skandhas from which it can be said to be either different or non-different. “The pudgala cannot be said to be transitory (_anitye_) like the skandhas since it transmigrates laying down the burden (_skandhas_) shouldering a new burden;

it cannot be said to be permanent, since it is made of transitory constituents.” This pudgala doctrine of the Sammitîyas as sketched by Professor De la Vallée Poussin is not in full agreement with the pudgala doctrine of the Sammitîyas as sketched by Gu@naratna which we have noticed above.]

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a flux and (4) that an arhat (saint) may fall away [Footnote ref 1].

The Sabbatthivâdins or Sarvâstivâdins have a vast Abhidharma literature still existing in Chinese translations which is different from the Abhidharma of the Theravâda school which we have already mentioned [Footnote ref 2]. These are 1. Jñânaprasthâna S’âstra of Kâtyâyanîputtra which passed by the name of Mahâ Vibhâ@sâ from which the Sabbatthivâdins who followed it are called Vaibhâ@sikas [Footnote ref 3]. This work is said to have been given a literary form by As’vagho@sa.

2. Dharmaskandha by S’âriputtra. 3. Dhâtukâya by Pûr@na.

4. Prajñaptis’âstra by Maudgalyâyana. 5. Vijñânakâya by Devak@sema.

6. Sa@ngîtiparyyâya by Sâriputtra and Prakara@napâda by Vasumitra.

Vasubandhu (420 A.D.-500 A.D.) wrote a work on the Vaibhâ@sika [Footnote

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ref 4] system in verses (_kârikâ_) known as the Abhidharmakos’a, to which he appended a commentary of his own which passes by the name Abhidharma Kos’abhâ@sya in which he pointed out some of the defects of the Vaibhâ@sika school from the Sautrântika point of view [Footnote ref 5]. This work was commented upon by Vasumitra and Gu@namati and later on by Yas’omitra who was himself a Sautrântika and called his work Abhidharmakos’a vyâkhyâ; Sa@nghabhadra a contemporary of Vasubandhu

wrote Samayapradipa and Nyâyânusâra (Chinese translations of which are available) on strict Vaibhâ@sika lines. We hear also of other Vaibhâ@sika writers such as Dharmatrâta, Gho@saka, Vasumitra and Bhadanta, the writer of Sa@myuktâbhidharmas’âstra and Mahâvibhâ@sâ.

Di@nnâga(480 A.D.), the celebrated logician, a Vaibhâ@sika or a Sautrântika and reputed to be a pupil of Vasubandhu, wrote his famous work Pramâ@nasamuccaya in which he established Buddhist logic and refuted many of the views of Vâtsyâyana the celebrated commentator of the Nyâya sûtras; but we regret

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