A Discourse on Paticcasamuppada

by Venerable Mahasi Sayadaw | 62,614 words

The Paticcasamuppada refers to “The Doctrine of Dependent Origination”. This is the English translation done by U Aye Maung Published by U Min Swe Buddhasasana Nuggaha Organization Rangoon, Burma....

Chapter 4 - The False View Of Sati

This identification of the doer of kammic deed with the bearer of its fruit makes it possible for us to avoid the annihilation view. On the other hand, some people believe in the transmigration of a living being as a whole from one life to another. This mistaken view called sassataditthi (eternity belief) was held by bhikkhu Sati in the time of the Buddha.

It was the Jatakas that led bhikkhu Sati to this view. He learnt how the Buddha identified himself with the leading characters in these birth stories. So he reasoned thus: the physical body of the bodhisatta disintegrated after his death and there was nothing of it that passed on to his last existence. It was only the consciousness that survived physical dissolution and that formed the hard core of the bodhisattas personality in each of his existence. The same may be said of every other living being. Unlike the physical body, consciousness is not subject to disintegration. It passes on from one body to another and exists forever.

But the Jatakas underscore only the continuity of the cause and effect relationship in terms or the doer of kamma and the bearer of kammic fruit. They do not imply the transfer of vinnana or any other attribute intact from one life to another. Everything passes away but because of the causal connection, we have to assume that the hero of a Jataka story finally became Prince Siddhattha. So after questioning Sati, the Buddha says that vinnana is conditioned, that it cannot arise in the absence of its relevant cause.

The Buddha cites the simile of a fire which is designated according to its origin. The fire that originates with wood is called wood fire, that which starts with grass is called grass fire and so on. Likewise, consciousness is conditioned by something and it is labelled according to that which conditions it. Thus, the consciousness that arises from eye and visual form is called visual consciousness (cakkhu vinnana), that which stems from ear and sound is called auditory consciousness (sota vinnana) and so forth. In short, the consciousness is specified according to the sense object and the sense organ which together give rise to it. When the cause of a fire changes so does its designation. A grass fire becomes a bush fire when the fire spreads to the bush. In the same way, consciousness changes its label according to the sense object and the sense organ on which it is dependent. In the case of the same sense object and the same sense organ, too, it is the new consciousness that occurs at every moment in the mental process. Thus, to realize the truth about mental process is to be free from annihilation belief whereas a false view of it leads to eternity belief.

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