Sutta References (regarding insight leading to emergence)

135. Now, the following sutta references should be understood in order not to be confused about insight leading to emergence. For this insight leading to emergence is called “aloofness” (atammayatā)^[1] in the Saḷāyatana-vibhaṅga Sutta thus, “Bhikkhus, by depending and relying on aloofness abandon, surmount, equanimity that is unified, based on unity” (M III 220). In the Alagadda Sutta it is called “dispassion” (nibbidā) thus, “Being dispassionate his greed fades away. With the fading away of greed he is liberated” (M I 139).

In the Susīma Sutta it is called “knowledge of the relationship of states” (dhammaṭṭhiti-ñāṇa) thus, “Previously, Susīma, there is knowledge of relationship of states; subsequently there is knowledge of Nibbāna” (S II 124). In the Poṭṭhapāda Sutta it is called the “culmination of perception” (saññagga) thus, “First, Poṭṭhapāda, the culmination of perception arises, and afterwards knowledge” (D I 185). In the Dasuttara Sutta it is called the “principal factor of purity” (parisuddhi-padhāniyaṅga) thus, “Purification by knowledge and vision of the way is the principal factor of purity” (D III 288).

In the Paṭisambhidāmagga it is called by the three names thus, “Desire for deliverance, and contemplation of reflection, and equanimity about formations: these things are one in meaning and only the letter is different” (Paṭis II 64). In the Paṭṭhāna it is called by two names thus, “conformity to change-of-lineage” and “conformity to cleansing”^[2] (Paṭṭh 1, 159).

In the Rathavinīta Sutta it is called “purification by knowledge and vision of the way” thus, “But how, friend, is it for the purpose of the purification by knowledge and vision of the way that the life of purity is lived under the Blessed One?” (M I 147).

136. The Greatest Sage did thus proclaim

This insight stilled and purified,
That to emergence leads beside,
With many a neatly chosen name.
The round of rebirth’s slough of pain
Is vast and terrible; a man
Wisely should strive as best he can,
If he would this emergence gain.

The twenty-first chapter called “The Description of Purification by Knowledge and Vision of the Way” in the Treatise on the Development of Understanding in the Path of Purification composed for the purpose of gladdening good people.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

“Aloofness”—atammayatā: not in PED. See also M III 43. The word is made up of a + taṃ + maya + tā = “not-made-of-that-ness.” Its meaning is non-attachment to any form of being.

[2]:

The word vodāna (“cleansing”) is used, in its loose sense of “purifying” in general, in I.143. For its technical Abhidhamma sense here see Ch. XXII note 7.