A Manual of Abhidhamma

by Nārada Thera | 80,494 words | ISBN-13: 9789380336510

In the Abhidhammattha Sangaha there is a brief exposition of the Law of Dependent Origination, followed by a descriptive account of the Causal Relations that finds no parallel in any other philosophy. Edited in the original Pali Text with English Translation and Explanatory Notes by Narada Maha Thera....

The Arising of Material Phenomena

Rūpasamutthāna-Naya

§ 4.

Kammam, cittam, utu, āhāro c'āti cattāri rūpasamutthānāni nāma.

Tattha kāmāvacaram rūpāvacaram ca ti pañcavīsatividham pi kusalākusalakammam abhisankhatam ajjhattika-santāne kammasamutthānarūpam patisandhim upādāya khane khane samutthāpeti.

Arūpavipākadvipañcaviññānavajjitam pañcasattatividham picittam cittasamuttānarūpam pathamabhavangam upādāya jāyantam eva samutthāpeti.

Tattha appanājavanam iriyāpatham pi sannāmeti.

Votthapanakāmāvacarajavanābhiññā pana viññattim pi samutthāpenti.

Somanassa-javanāni pan' ettha terasa-hasanam pi janenti.

Sītunhotu-samaññātā tejo-dhātu-thitippattā'va utusamutthanarūpam ajjhattañ ca bahiddhā ca yathāraham samutthāpeti.

Ojā-sankhāto āhāro āhārasamutthānarūpam ajjho-haranakāle thānappatto' vā samutthāpeti.

Tattha hadaya-indriyarūpani kammajān, eva viññattidvayam cittajam eva, saddo cittotujo,lahutādittayam utucittāhārehi sambhoti.

Avinibbhogarūpāni c' eva ākāsadhātu ca catūhi sambhūtāni. Lakkhanarūpani na kutoci jāyanti.

Atthārasa pannarasa terasa dvādasāti ca
Kammacittotukāhārajāni honti yathākkamam.
Jāyamānādirūpānam sabhāvattā hi kevalam
Lakkhanāni na jāyanti kehicī' ti pakāsitam.
Ayam' ettha rūpasamutthānanayo.

 

(translation) (52)

§ 4. Material phenomena arise in four ways, viz:

  1. Kamma,
  2. Mind,
  3. Seasonal Conditions, and
  4. Food.


1. Material Phenomena arising from Kamma (53)

Therein, the twenty-five types of moral and immoral Kamma, pertaining to the kāma and rūpa Spheres, produce ,in one's own continuity, duly constituted material phenomena born of Kamma, at every moment, commencing from conception.

2. Material Phenomena arising from Mind (54)

The seventy-five types of consciousness, excluding the Formless Resultants and the twice fivefold cognitives, produce mind-born material phenomena, from the first moment of life-continuum just as it arises.

Therein the ecstatic javanas regulate the bodily postures. But the Determining Consciousness, javanas of the kāma Sphere, and Super-knowledge Consciousness, produce also (bodily and vocal) media of communication. Herein the thirteen pleasurable javanas produce laughter too.

3. Material Phenomena arising from Seasonal Conditions (55)

The tejo-element, which comprises both cold and heat, on reaching its static stage, produces, according to circumstances, both internal and external material phenomena, resulting from seasonal conditions.

4. Material Phenomena arising from Food (56)

Food, known as nutritive essence, during assimilation on reaching its static stage, produces material phenomena resulting from food.

Therein the heart and the (eight) material Faculties are born of Kamma. The two media of communication are born only of mind. Sound is born of mind and seasonal conditions. The triple qualities of lightness and so forth arise from seasonal conditions, mind, and food. The inseparable material qualities and the element of space arise from four causes. Characteristic material qualities do not arise from any cause.

Eighteen, fifteen, thirteen, and twelve arise respectively from Kamma, mind, seasonal conditions, and food.

The characteristic marks of matter that arise and so forth are not produced by any cause, they say, since they are wholly intrinsic.

 

Notes:

52. Rhūpasamutthana - Buddhism does not attempt to solve the problem of the ultimate origin of matter. It takes for granted that matter exists and states that rūpa develops in four ways.

53. Kammaja - Strictly speaking, by Kamma are meant past moral and immoral types of consciousness. It is only those classes of consciousness pertaining to the kāma and rūpa-spheres that tend to produce rūpa. They are 12 types of immoral consciousness, 8 types of moral consciousness, and the 5 moral rūpa jhānas. A moral or immoral birth-reproductive Kamma generated at the dying moment of a person, conditions the rebirth-consciousness (patisandhi-citta) in a subsequent birth. Simultaneous with the arising of the rebirth-consciousness, rūpas conditioned by past Kamma spring up at every instant, like the flame of a lamp, up to the 17th thought-moment reckoned from the dying moment of the person.

At the very moment of conception there arise, as a result of the reproductive Karmic force, three dasakas or 'decads' - namely, the kāya, bhāva, and vatthu - body, sex, and base decads. The body decad is composed of the four elements, four derivatives, vitality and the kāyapasāda. The sex-decad and the base-decad are similarly constituted.

54. Cittaja - Mind, the invisible but more powerful composite factor of the so-called being, has the potentiality to produce rūpa. In other words, good and bad thoughts produce desirable and undesirable material phenomena. This is apparent from the physical changes that result from thoughts generated by a person. According to Abhidhamma, it is from the arising moment of the first bhavanga, that is, immediately after the rebirth-consciousness, that material phenomena arising from mind spring up. The rebirth-consciousness does not produce mind-born rūpas, since Kamma does that function, and since it is a newcomer to the fresh existence. No mind-born rūpas arise at the static and perishing thought-moments, as they are weak. The ten sense-cognitives lack the potentiality to produce rūpa. The four arūpa vipāka jhānas do not produce rūpa, as they are developed through non-attachment to rūpa.

It is stated that jhāna factors are essential to produce mind-born rūpa. One who possesses jhānas can therefore produce powerful rūpas which would enable him to live even without edible food. The mentally alert do not lack vitality. One who experiences Nibbānic bliss could live without any food for a considerable period. For instance, the Buddha fasted 49 days immediately after His Enlightenment.

Of the 75 types of consciousness, 26 javanas (10 rūpa kusala and kriyā, 8 arūpa kusala and kriyā and 8 lokuttaras) could produce abnormal bodily movements such as passing through the air, diving into the earth, walking on water, etc.

Here the Determining consciousness is the mind-door consciousness (manodvārāvajjana). 29 kāma-javanas are the 12 akusalas, 1 hasituppāda, and 16 sobhana kusala and kriyā; and abhiññā cittas are the two fifth jhāna kusala and kriyā, accompanied by equanimity and connected with knowledge.

13 pleasurable javanas are the 4 akusalas and 8 sobhana kusalas and kriyās, accompanied by pleasure, and one hasituppāda.

Worldlings, when laughing or smiling, experience the four akusalas and four sobhanas; Sekhas, the same types of consciousness excluding the two akusalas accompanied by misbelief; Arahats, the four kriyās and one hasituppāda. The Buddhas smile only with the four sobhana kriyās.

55. Utuja - It was stated earlier that Kamma produces, at the moment of rebirth, three decads kāya, bhāva, and vatthu. The internal tejo element, found in these three groups, combined with the external tejo element, produces material phenomena caused by seasonal conditions at the static stage of the rebirth-consciousness. At the genetic stage Kamma-born tejo element takes the place of mind-born tejo element.

It is clear that the term utu has been used in the sense of tejo which constitutes both heat and cold. Strictly speaking, it is the internal and external tejo elements which produce rūpa. It should be understood that rūpas produced by climatic conditions are also included in the utuja class.

56. āharaja - By āhāra are meant the nutritive essence present in physical food and the sap (ojā) contained in the material groups born of Kamma, mind, and seasonal conditions. The internal ojā, supported by the external nutritive essence, produces rūpa at the static stage which endures for 49 minor thought-instants. Rūpas arise when the ojā diffuses the body. Internal sap is alone incapable of producing rūpa without the aid of external nutritive essence.

Hadaya and 8 indriya rūpas (eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, masculinity, feminity, and vitality) are wholly produced by Kamma. Thus jīvitindriya or the life-principle present in animate beings such as men and animals should be differentiated from the inanimate life of plants and inorganic substances as they are not the inevitable results of Kamma.

They do possess a certain kind of life different from human beings and animals.

ākāsa - It is interesting to note that this inter-atomic space is caused by all the four causes.

Sadda - Articulate sounds are caused by mind; inarticulate sounds are caused by utu. Musical notes caused by men are produced by utu, conditioned by mind.

Kammaja = 18. They are: 8 inseparables + 1 Space + 1 Heart + 8 Controlling faculties .

Cittaja = 15. They are: 5 Mutables + 1 Sound + 8 Inseparables + 1 Space.

Utuja = 13. They are: 1 Sound + Lightness, etc. 3 + 8 Inseparables + 1 Space.

āhāraja = 12. They are: Lightness, etc. 3 + 8 Inseparables + 1 Space . The four lakkhana rūpas are common to all as there is no rūpa devoid of the three instants birth, decay, and death.

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