Dhammasangani

Enumeration of Phenomena

400 B.C. | 124,932 words

*english translation* The first book of the Abhidhamma (Part 3 of the Tipitaka). The Dhammasangani enumerates all the paramattha dhamma (ultimate realities) to be found in the world. According to one such enumeration these amount to: * 52 cetasikas (mental factors), which, arising together in various combination, give rise to any one of... * ......

Chapter VI - The Twelve Bad Thoughts

Dvadasa Akusalacittani

I.

[365] Which are the states that are bad?[1]

When a bad thought has arisen, which is accompanied by happiness, and associated with views and opinions,[2] and has as its object a sight, a sound, a smell, a taste,[3] a touch, a [mental] state, or what not, then there is

contact,
feeling,
perception,
thinking,
thought,
conception,
discursive thought,
joy,
ease,
self-collectedness;[4]

the faculties of:
energy,
concentration,[5]
ideation,
happiness,
vitality;

wrong views,
wrong intention,
wrong endeavour,
wrong concentration;

the powers of:
energy,
concentration,
unconscientiousness,
disregard of blame;

lust,                covetousness,
dulness,[6]       wrong views,

unconscientiousness,
disregard of blame,

quiet,
grasp,[7]
balance.

Now, these — or whatever other incorporeal, causally induced states that there are on that occasion — these are states that are bad.[8]

[366-370] What on that occasion is contact . . . feeling . . . perception . . . thinking . . . thought?

Answers as in §§ 2-6 respectively.

[371] What on that occasion is conception?

Answer as in § 7, substituting 'wrong intention' (micchasankappo) for 'right intention'.

[372-374] What on that occasion is discursive thought . . . joy . . . ease?

Answers as in §§ 8-10 respectively.

[375] What on that occasion is self-collectedness?

Answer as in § 11, substituting ' wrong concentration 'for' right concentration'.

[376] What on that occasion is the faculty of energy?

Answer as in § 13, substituting 'wrong endeavour' for 'right endeavour'.

[377] What on that occasion is the faculty of concentration?

Answer as in § 375.

[378-380] What on that occasion is the faculty of ideation . . . happiness . . . vitality?

Answers as in §§ 17-19 respectively.

[381] What on that occasion are wrong views (micchaditthi)?[9]

The views which on that occasion are

a walking in opinion,
the jungle of opinion,[10]
the wilderness of opinion,[11]
the puppet-show of opinion,[12]
the scuffling of opinion,[13]
the Fetter of opinion,[14]
the grip[15] and tenacity[16] of it,
the inclination totvards it,[17]
the being infected by it,
a by-path,
a wrong road,
wrongness,
the 'fording place',[18]
shiftiness of grasp

— these are the wrong views that there then are.

[382-384] What on that occasion is wrong intention . . wrong endeavour . . . wrong concentration?

Answers as in §§ 371, 376, 375 respectively.

[885, 386] What on that occasion is the power of energy . . . the power of concentration?

Ansicers as in §§ 383, 384 respectively.

[387] What on that occasion is the power of unconscientiousness (ahirikabalam)?

The absence which there is on that occasion of anyfeeling of conscientious scruple when scruples ought to be felt, the absence of conscientious scruple at attaining to bad and evil states — this is the power of unconscientiousness that there then is.

[388] What on that occasion is the power of disregard of blame (anottappabalam)?

The absence which there is on that occasion of any sense of guilt where a sense of guilt ought to be felt, the absence[19] of a sense of guilt at attaining to bad and evil states — this is the power of disregard of blame that there then is.

[389] What on that occasion is lust?

The lust, lusting, lustfulness which there is on that occasion, the infatuation, the feeling and being infatuated, the covetousness, the lust that is the root of badness — this is the lust that there then is.

[390] What on that occasion is dulness?

The lack of knowledge, of vision, which there is on that occasion;
the lack of co-ordination, of judgment, of wakefulness,[20] of penetration;
the inability to comprehend, to grasp thoroughly;
the inability to compare, to consider, to demonstrate;
the folly, the childishness, the lack of intelligence;
the dulness that is vagueness, obfuscation, ignorance, the Flood[21] of ignorance, the Bond of ignorance, the bias of ignorance, the obsession of ignorance, the barrier of ignorance;
the dulness that is the root of badness

— this the dulness that there then is.

[391-397] What on that occasion is covetousness . . . are wrong views ... is unconscientiousness . . . disregard of blame . . . quiet . . . grasp . . . balance?

Answers as in §§ 389, 381, 387, 388, 375, 376, and, again, 375 respectively.

Or whatever other incorporeal, causally induced states there are on that occasion — these are states that are bad.

 

[Summary.]

[397a]

Now, on that occasion

the skandhas are four,
the spheres are two,
the elements are two,
the nutriments are three,
the faculties are five,
the Jhana is fivefold,
the Path is fourfold,
the powers are four,
the causes are two,[22]
contact,     >  are each single [factors];
   etc.         >     etc.

[Continue as in § 58.]

[398] What on that occasion is the skandha of syntheses?

Contact,
thinking,
conception,
discursive thought,
joy,
self-collectedness;

the faculties of:
energy,
concentration,
vitality;

wrong views,
wrong intention,
wrong endeavour,
wrong concentration;

the powers of:
energy,
concentration,
unconscientiousness,
disregard of blame;

lust,                 covetousness,
dulness;          wrong views;

unconscientiousness,
disregard of blame;

quiet,
grasp,
balance.

These, or whatever other incorporeal, causally induced states there are on that occasion, exclusive of the skandhas of feeling, perception and intellect — these are the skandha of syntheses.

[Continue as in § 58.]

 

II.

[399] Which are the states fchat are bad?

When a bad thought has arisen which is accompanied by pleasure, associated with views and opinions, and prompted by a conscious motive,[23] and which has as its object a sight ... or what not, then there is contact . . . balance . . .

[Continue as in the First Thought, § 365.]

 

III.

[400] Which are the states that are bad?

When a bad thought has arisen which is accompanied by happiness and disconnected with views and opinions, and which has as its object a sight, a sound, a smell, a taste, a touch, or what not, then there is contact, etc.

[Continue as in the first Bad Thought, but omitting the single, twice enumerated item 'wrong views'.][24]

 

[Summary.]

[400a] Now, at that time

the skandhas are four,
the spheres are two,
the elements are two,
the nutriments are three,
the faculties are five,
the Jhana is fivefold,
the Path is threefold,
    etc., etc.

[Continue as in § 58.]

[401] What on that occasion is the skandha of syntheses?

Answer as in § 398, omitting 'wrong views'.

 

IV.

[402] Which are the states that are bad?

When a bad thought has arisen which is accompanied by pleasure, disconnected with views and opinions, and prompted by a conscious motive, and which has as its object a sight ... or what not, then there is contact . . . balance . . .

[Continue as in the Third Thought, § 400.]

 

V.

[403] Which are the states that are bad?

When a bad thought has arisen which is accompanied by disinterestedness, and associated with views and opinions, and has as its object a sight, a sound, a smell, a taste, a touch, a [mental] state, or what not, then there is

contact,            thought,
feeling,             conception,
perception,      discursive thought,
thinking,           disinterestedness,
self-collectedness;

the faculties of
energy,
concentration,
ideation;

disinterestedness,
vitality;

wrong views,
wrong intention,
wrong endeavour,
wrong concentration;

the powers of
energy,
concentration,
unconscientiousness,
disregard of blame;

lust,            covetousness,
dulness;      wrong views;

unconscientiousness,
disregard of blame,
composure,
grasp,
balance.

These, or whatever other incorporeal, causally induced states there are on that occasion — these are states that are bad.

[404-407] Questions and answers on 'contact', 'feeling', 'disinterestedness', and  the faculty of disinterestedness' identical with those in §§ 151-154.

 

[Summary.]

[407a]

Now, at that time

the skandhas are four,
   etc.,
the faculties are five,
the Jhana is fourfold,[25]
the Path is fourfold,
   etc.

[Continue as in § 58.]

[408] What on that occasion is the skandha of syntheses?

Contact, thinking, conception, discursive thought, self-collectedness, etc.

[Continue as in § 398, 'joy' having been omitted as incompatible with 'disinterestedness'.]

 

VI.

[409] Which are the states that are bad?

When a bad thought has arisen which is accompanied by disinterestedness, associated with views and opinions, and prompted by a conscious motive, and which has as its object a sight ... or what not, then there is contact, etc.

[Continue as in Thought V.]

 

VII.

[410] Which are the states that are bad?

When a bad thought has arisen which is accompanied by disinterestedness, and disconnected with views and opinions, and which has as its object a sight ... or what not, then there is contact, etc.

[Continue as in Thought V., omitting 'wrong views'.]

 

[Summary.]

[410a]

Now at that time

the skandhas are four,
   etc.,
the faculties are five,
the Jhana is fourfold,
the Path is threefold,
   etc.

[Continue as in § 397a.]

[411] What on that occasion is the skandha of syntheses?

Ansiver as in § 398, omitting both 'joy' and 'wrong views'.

 

VIII.

[412] Which are the states that are bad?

Ansiver as in Thought VII., with the additional Jactor, inserted as in Thoughts II,, IV., VI., of  'prompted by a conscious motive'.[26]

 

IX.

[413] Which are the states that are bad?

When a bad thought has arisen which is accompanied by melancholy and associated with repugnance,[27] and which has as its object a sight, a sound, a smell, a taste, a touch, a mental state, or what not, then there is

contact,
feeling,
perception,
thinking,
thought,
conception,
discursive thought,
distress,
self-collectedness;

the faculties of:
energy,
concentration,
ideation,
melancholy,
vitality;

wrong intention,
wrong endeavour,
wrong concentration;

the powers of:
energy,
concentration,
unconscientiousness,
disregard of blame;

hate,
dulness;

malice;

unconscientiousness,
disregard of blame,
quiet,
grasp,
balance.

These, or whatever other incorporeal, causally induced states there are on that occasion — these are states that are bad.

[414] The question and answer on 'contact', § 2.

[415] What on that occasion is feeling?

The mental pain, the mental distress (dukkham), which, on that occasion, is born of contact with the appropriate element of representative intellection; the painful, distressful sensation which is born of contact with thought; the painful, distressful feeling which is born of contact with thought — this is the distress that there then is.

[416, 417] What on that occasion is distress (dukkham) . . . the faculty of melancholy (domanassindriyam)?

Answers as for 'feeling'  in § 415, omitting 'with the appropriate element of representative intellection'.

[418] What on that occasion is hate?

The hate, hating, hatred which on that occasion is a disordered temper, the getting upset,[28] opposition, hostility, churlishness,[29] abruptness,[30] disgust of heart — this is the hate that there then is.

[419] What on that occasion is malice?

Answer as for 'hate'.

Or whatever other incorporeal, causally induced states there are on that occasion — these are states that are bad.

 

[Summary.]

 

[419a]

Now, on that occasion

the skandhas are four,
   etc.,
the faculties are five,
the Jhana is fourfold,
the Path is threefold,
the powers are four,
the causes are two,[31]
   etc.

[Continue as in §§ 58-61.]

[420] What on that occasion is the skandha of syntheses?

Contact,
thinking,
conception,
discursive thought,
self-collectedness;

the faculties of
energy,
concentration,
vitality;

wrong intention,
wrong endeavour,
wrong concentration;

the powers of
energy,
concentration,
unconscientiousness,
disregard of blame;

hate,
dulness;

malice;

unconscientiousness,
disregard of blame,
quiet,
grasp,
balance.

These, or whatever other incorporeal, causally induced states there are on that occasion, exclusive of the skandhas of feeling, perception and intellect — these are the skandha of syntheses.

 

X.

[421] Which are the states that are bad?

When a bad thought has arisen which is accompanied by melancholy, associated with repugnance, and prompted by a conscious motive, and which has as its object a sight ... or what not, then there is contact, etc.

[Continue as in Thought IX.]

 

XI.

[422] Which are the states that are bad?

When a bad thought has arisen which is accompanied by disinterestedness and associated with perplexity, and which has as its object a sight, a sound, a smell, a taste, a touch, a mental state, or what not, then there is

contact,
feeling,
perception,
thinking,
thought,
conception,
discursive thought,
disinterestedness,
self-collectedness;

the faculties of:
energy,       disinterestedness,
ideation,     vitality;

wrong intention,
wrong endeavour;

the powers of:
energy,
unconscientiousness,
disregard of blame;

perplexity;

dulness;

unconscientiousness,
disregard of blame,
grasp.

These, or whatever other incorporeal, causally induced states there are on that occasion — these are states that are bad.

[423] What on that occasion is contact?

The usual formula.

[424] What on that occasion is self-collectedness?

The sustaining of thought which there is on that occasion[32] — this is the self-collectedness that there then is.

[425] What on that occasion is perplexity (vicikiccha)?[33]

The doubt, the hesitating, the dubiety, which on that occasion is puzzlement[34] perplexity; distraction, standing at cross-roads;[35] collapse,[36] uncertainty of grasp; evasion, hesitation;[37] incapacity of grasping thoroughly,[38] stiffness of mind,[39] mental scarifying[40] — this is the perplexity that there then is.

[Summary.]

[425a]

Now, at that time

the skandhas are four,
etc.,
the faculties are four,
the Jhana is fourfold,
the Path is twofold,
the powers are three,
the cause is one,[41]
etc.

[Continue as in § 58.]

[426] What on that occasion is the skandha of syntheses?

Contact,
thinking,
conception,
discursive thought,
self-collectedness;

the faculties of:
energy,
vitality;

wrong intention,
wrong endeavour;

the powers of:
energy,
unconscientiousness,
disregard of blame;

perplexity,
dulness;

unconscientiousness,
disregard of blame,
grasp.[42]

Or whatever other, etc.

[Continue as in § 420.]

 

XII.

[427] Which are the states that are bad?

When a bad thought has arisen which is accompanied by disinterestedness and associated with excitement, and which has as its object a sight, a sound, a smell, a taste, a touch, a mental state, or what not, then there is

contact,
feeling,
perception,
thinking,
thought,
conception,
discursive thought,
disinterestedness,
self-collectedness,
the faculties of:
energy,
concentration,
ideation,
disinterestedness,
vitality;

wrong intention,
wrong endeavour,
wrong concentration;

the powers of energy,
concentration,
unconscientiousness,
disregard of blame;

excitement;

dulness;

unconscientiousness,
disregard of blame,
quiet, grasp,
balance.

These, or whatever other incorporeal, causally induced states there are on that occasion — these are states that are bad.

[428] Usual question and answer on 'contact'.

[429] What on that occasion is excitement (uddhaccam)?

The excitement of mind which on that occasion is disquietude, agitation of heart, turmoil of mind — this is the excitement that there then is.[43]

[429a]

Now, at that time

the skandhas are four,
etc., the faculties are five,
the Jhana is fourfold,
the Path is threefold,
the powers are four,
the cause is one, etc.

[Continue as in § 58.]

[430] What on that occasion is the skandha of syntheses?

Contact,
thinking,
conception,
discursive thought,
self-collectedness;

the faculties of
energy,
concentration,
vitality;

wrong intention,
wrong endeavour,
wrong concentration;

the powers of:
energy,
concentration,
unconscientiousness,
disregard of blame;

excitement;

dulness;

unconscientiousness,
disregard of blame,
quiet,
grasp,
balance.

Or whatever other, etc.

[Continue as in § 62.]

 

[Here end] the Twelve Bad Thoughts.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

In this connexion those constituents of the twelve thoughts which in themselves are ethically neutral are to be understood as unchanged in the connotation assigned them in connexion with good thoughts. There being for bad thoughts no other sphere of existence save the sensuous universe, this is to be understood throughout (Asl. 247).

[2]:

Ditthigata-sampayuttam. Cf. p.83, n.1, with §§ 381,1003.

[3]:

Rasarammanam va is inadvertently omitted in the printed text.

[4]:

See following note.

[5]:

Concentration of mind is essential to the higher life of Buddhism; nevertheless, so far is it from constituting excellence, that it is also an essential to effective evil-doing. If the mind be undistracted, says Buddhaghosa, the murderer's knife does not miss, the theft does not miscarry, and by a mind of single intent (lit., of one taste) evil conduct is carried out (Asl. 248). Cf. the Hebrew idiom rendered by *the heart being set'— to do good or evil (Eccles. viii. 11; Ps. Ixxviii. 8).

[6]:

Hate (do so) and malice (vyapado) do not find a place among the factors of Bad Thoughts (corresponding to the place occupied by their opposites in the Good Thoughts, § 1) till we come to the last four types of bad thoughts. Whereas these are accompanied by melancholy (domanassam), the subject of the first and the following three types of thought is a cheerful sinner. Joy, ease, happiness, were held to be incompatible with hate.

[7]:

Vipassana (insight) has been erroneously included in the text. Moral insight was as incompatible with immoral thoughts to the Buddhist as it was to Socrates and Plato. Hence also 'wisdom' and 'mindfulness' are excluded, as well as ' faith.' The Cy. rules that the followers of heretical dogmas and mere opinion can have but a spurious faith in their teachers, can only be mindful of bad thoughts, and can only cultivate deceit and delusion. Nor can there possibly be that sixfold efficiency of sense and thought which is concomitant with good thoughts (§ § 4051). Asl. 249.

[8]:

Kusala in the text is, of course, a slip. There are in all these Bad Thoughts ten 'whatever-other' states: desire, resolve, attention, conceit, envy (issa, or read iccha, longing), meanness, stolidity, torpor, excitement, worry (Asl. 250). See above, p.5, n.1.

[9]:

Micchaditthi is defined in the Cy. (p. 248) as ayathavadassanam, seeing things as they are not. (On ditthi, see § 1003, n.) Sixty-two kinds of this perverted vision, or ill-grounded speculation are distinguished in the Brahmajala Sutta (D. i.), all of them being theories of existence, and are alluded to by the commentator (p. 252). Cf. Ehys Davids, ' American Lectures,' p. 27 et seq.

[10]:

Because of the difficulty of getting out of it, as out of a grass, forest, or mountain jungle (AsL, ibid.).

[11]:

Because of the danger and fearsomeness of indulging in such opinions, as of a desert beset with robbers and snakes, barren of water or food (ibid.).

[12]:

Buddhaghosa does not derive this term from visukam, but from visu-k ay ikam = antithetically constituted — i.e., to sammaditthi.

[13]:

The disorder and struggle through some being Annihilationists, some Eternalists, etc. (Asl. 253).

[14]:

See § 1113.

[15]:

The obsession by some object of thought, like the grip of a crocodile (Asl. 253).

[16]:

The text of the Cy. reads patitthaho for patiggaho. K., however, reads patiggaho.

[17]:

I.e., towards the fallacious opinion of Permanence, etc. (Asl. 253).

[18]:

Titthayatanam. It is impossible to get an English equivalent for this metaphor, which literally means only a standing-place, but which is usually, in its first intention, associated with a shallow riverstrand or seashore, and, in its second, with sectarian speculative beliefs and the teaching of them. Buddhaghosa himself gives an alternative connotation:

  1. 'where the foolish, in the course of their gyrations (ie., samsara) cross over';
  2. the region or home of sectarians (titthiya). Cf. the use of the term in M. i. 483.

[19]:

Na has here dropped out of the printed text.

[20]:

Sambodho. Cf. § 285.

[21]:

On ignorance as a Flood and as a Bond, see below, §§ 1151, 1151a.

Whereas the mark (lakkhanam) of lust is the seizing on an object in idea, it is the essence (raso) of dulness to cover up the real nature of that object, with the result that the attention devoted to it is of a superficial nature (ayoniso). Asl. 249.

[22]:

Namely, 'lust' and 'dulness'.

[23]:

The Cy. instances the case of a young man who, being refused the hand of the daughter of some false doctrinaire on the ground of his being of a different communion, is prompted by his affections to frequent the church of the girl's people and to adopt their views, thus gaining his reward (Asl. 255).

[24]:

Somanassindriyam, bracketed in the text, must, of course, be included. The Cy. instances the frame of mind of those who are indulging in 'worldly pleasures', such as public sports and dances, and at village festivals (natasamajjadini). Cf, 'Dialogues of the Buddha', I., p.7, n.4.

It is difficult to interpret the concisely and obscurely worded double illustration given in the Cy. (p. 257) of this type of thought. The same circumstances are supposed as in the Third Thought, with the added low-class delights of horse-play and vulgar curiosity.

[25]:

Cf. § 154a.

[26]:

The Cy. gives no illustrations of this or the three preceding types of thought.

[27]:

Patigho, used (§ 1060) to describe do so, and again (§ 597 et seq.) in connexion with sense-stimulation, as 'reaction'.

[28]:

Vyapatti, vyapajjana. Cf. § 1060, n. 5. Here the comment is pakatibhava-vijahanatthena = throwing off a normal state (Asl. 258). *Like gruel that has gone bad ' (Sum., 1. 211).

[29]:

Candikkam. See J. P. T. S., 1891, p. 17; P. P. ii. 1 ( = ii. 11). Smp. 297. Morris thinks candittam is the right spelling. I incline to hold that the lectio difficilior is more likely to be correct. The Cy. in four passages spells with kk. K., by an oversight, has candittam in the present passage, but kk in §§ 1060, 1314.

[30]:

Asuropo. Eefers, according to the Cy. (258), to the broken utterance of a man in a rage.

It is not a little curious that such constituents as 'self-collectedness', 'quiet' and 'balance' should not be found incompatible with hate as described above. 'Concentration' is less incompatible, and it must be remembered that all three states are described in the same terms. Hence, if one stands, the others cannot fall. But see under Thoughts X. and XH.

[31]:

Namely, doso and moho.

[32]:

Buddhaghosa says on this passage (Asl. 259):

'Inasmuch as this weak form of thought has only the capacity of keeping going, or persisting (pavatti thitimattakam)',

none of the other features of 'self-collectedness' are here applied to it.

It is clear, therefore, that the '... pe ...' after thiti in the text is a mistake. And cf. K. 'Concentration', it will be noticed, as well as 'quiet' and 'balance', are entirely omitted.

[33]:

It is tempting to render vicikiccha by 'doubt'. It would not be incorrect to do so. The dual state of mind which is the etymological basis of dou-bt is shown in two of the terms selected to describe the word. Again, the objects of vicikiccha, as given in § 1004, are those to which the term 'doubt', in its ethico-religious sense, might well be applied. But there are features in which the Buddhist attitude of vicikiccha does not coincide with doubt as usually understood in the West.

Doubt is the contrary of belief, confidence, or faith. Now, the approximate equivalents of the latter — saddha and pas ado — are not alluded to in the answer, as they might be, for the purpose of contrast. Again, though this by itself is also no adequate ground for not matching the two terms in question, the etymology of the words is very different.

There is nothing of the dual, divided state of mind in the structure of vicikiccha as there is in that of 'doubt'.

Cikit is the desiderative or frequentative of cit, to think; vi, the prefix, indicating either intensive or distracted thinking. Thus, the etymology of the Indian word lays stress on the dynamic rather than the static, on the stress of intellection rather than the suspense of inconclusiveness. When the term recurs (§ 1004), Buddhaghosa refers it to kiccho — to 'the fatigue incurred through inability to come to a decision' — a position nearer, psychologically, to 'perplexity' than to 'doubt'.

It is quite true that, on etymological ground, neither is kankha a match for our term 'doubt.' Kanks is to desire. The word would seem to give the emotional and volitional complement of the intellectual state implied in vicikiccha, the longing to escape into certainty and decision attendant on the anxious thinking.

Kankha, however, is not one of any important category of ethical terms, as is vicikiccha; besides, its secondary meaning — namely, of a matter sub judice, or of the state of mind connected therewith (see Jat. i. 165; M. i. 147) — seems to have superseded the primary meaning, which is retained in akankhati (cf. Akankheyya Sutta, M. i. 33). Hence, it can be fairly well rendered by 'doubt'.

I do not, then, pretend that 'perplexity' is etymologically the equivalent of vicikiccha, but I use it

  1. to guard against a too facile assimilation of the latter to the implications of 'doubt' as used by us, and
  2. to throw emphasis on the 'mortal coil' and tangle of thought in one who, on whatever grounds, is sceptically disposed.

[34]:

Vimati, almost an exact parallel to vicikiccha, connoting as it does either intense or distraught mind-action.

[35]:

Dvelhakam, dvedhapatho. Here we get to the etymological idea in our own 'doubt'. The Cy. has, for the one, 'to be swayed or shaken to and fro'; for the other, 'as a path branching in two, this being an obstacle to attainment' (259).

[36]:

Samsayo, -the etymological equivalent of 'collapse'. To succumb to one's inability to be persistently carrying on such problems as, Is this permanent or impermanent? etc., says the Cy. (ibid.).

[37]:

Asappana, parisappana. According to the Cy., these mean, respectively, 'to relinquish' (or slip down from — osakkati; cf. Trenckner's 'Miscellany', p. 60) 'an object of thought through inability to come to a decision', and 'to slip' (or run — sappati [vide sarp]) 'about on all sides from inability to plunge in'. Asl. 260.

[38]:

Apariyogahana, employed to describe moho. See § 390.

[39]:

I should not have hesitated to adopt, for thambhitattam, chambhitattarn (vacillation), the alternate reading in the Cy. (Asl. 260), were it not that the latter ])araphrases the term by saying 'the meaning is a condition of denseness (or rigidity, thaddho). For when perplexity arises, one makes one's mind stiff (stubborn, dense, thaddham)'.

K. also reads thambhitattam. Both terms, however, though opposed in connotation, are derived from the root stambh, to prop; and both are used to describe the gaseous element, which, though it is vacillating, holds solids apart. See below, § 965. There is the further comment (AsL, ibid.) that, 'in respect of certainty, inability to carry on the idea in the mind is meant'.

Vicikiccha, then, though it implies active racking of the brain, impedes progress in effective thinking, and results in a mental condition akin to the denseness and apariyogahana of moho.

Manovilekho. 'When perplexity arises, seizing the object of thought, it scratches the mind, as it were' (ibid.). When the term is used to describe kukkuccam, or worry (§ 1160), it is illustrated in the Cy. by the scaling of a copper pot with an awl (araggam). Asl. 384.

[40]:

See note on p. 117.

[41]:

Namely, moho.

[42]:

On the omission of 'balance', cf. below, § 429, n.

[43]:

Yam cittassa uddhaccarn avupasamo, cetaso vikkhepo, bhantattam cittassa — idam vuccati uddhaccarn. It seems clear that, whether or no uddhaccarn can elsewhere be rendered by terms indicative of a puffed-up state of mind (see Ehys Davids, 'Buddhism', p. 109; Warren, 'Buddhism in Translations', p. 365; Neumann, 'Die Eeden', etc., 1., passim) , the specific meaning in this connexion (Tattha katamam uddhaccarn) is the antithesis of vupasamo, and the equivalent of vikkhepo.

both of which are expressions about the meaning of which there is little or no uncertainty. In Sanskrit auddhatya is only found twice in later works, one of them Buddhist {v. Bothl. and Both., s.v,), and there means wrestlings a word used by ourselves for certain agitated, perfervid mental states. That the term should be yoked with kukkuccam (worry) in the Nivaranas (see §§ 1158-1160; and cf. the cognate meaning in another allied pair, th mamid dh am, §§ 1155-1157) goes far to rob it of implications of vanity or self-righteousness. (In 'Dialogues of the Buddha', i. 82, the former pair are rendered ' flurry and worry'.) Buddhaghosa gives little help; but he distinguishes uddhaccam, as a struggling over one object of thought (ekarammane vipphandati), from perplexity as a struggling over divers objects of thought. The Buddhists were apparently seeking for terms to describe a state of mind antithetical to that conveyed by the designation thinamiddham — stolidity and torpor. In the latter there is excessive stability — the immobility not of a finelyadjusted balance of faculties and values, but of an inert mass. In the former (uddhacca-kukkuccam) there is a want of equilibrium and adjustment. From some cause or another the individual is stirred up, agitated, fussed; in American idiom, 'rattled.'

What I have rendered 'turmoil' (bhantattam; more literally, wavering, rolling, staggering) Buddhaghosa calls vibhanti-bhavo {sic lege), bhantayana-bhantagonadinam viya (Asl. 260).

Whatever the exact meaning of uddhaccam may be, there is enough to show that it is in great part antithetical to some of the other constituents enumerated under the Bad Thought in question — at least, when these are taken in their full intention. I refer to the approximately synonymous group: 'self-collectednes,s' 'concentration', 'quiet' and 'balance'. The last, indeed (avikkhepo), is a contradiction in terms to the phrase which describes uddhaccam as cetaso vikkhepo! The text actually omits it, but this is through mere inadvertence {cf. § 430).

It is given in K., and the Cy. explicitly states (p. 260) that there are twenty-eight constituents enumerated, fourteen of them being described in terms of one or other of the other fourteen. (If the reader will compare § 427 with the corresponding descriptions given in §§ 2-57, he will prove this to be correct.) Nor is there a word to comment on, or explain away any apparent incongruity in the inclusion. There is only a short discussion, alluded to already, on the relation of uddhaccam and vicikiccha. Thoughts XI. and XII., as departing from the symmetrical procedure of I. to IX., are said to be miscellaneous items, and to be concerned with persistent attending to the idea (arammane pavattanaka-cittani). And just as, if a round gem and a tetragonal gem be sent rolling down an inclined plane, the former's motion is uniform, while that of the latter is from one position of rest to another, so vicikiccha connotes a continual working of thought, while uddhaccam works on one given basis at a time.

There being, then, as it would appear, this fairly close analogy between 'perplexity' and 'excitement', it is fair to assume that 'self-collectedness' and its synonyms are to be understood in Thought XII., as present in the feeble degree to which they, or at least the first of them, is present in Thought XI. (see § 424, n.). The compilers were thus between two fires as to their logic. Either avikkhepo must go to admit of the use of vikkhepo — in which case the synonyms of avikkhepo (samadhi, etc.) must go too — or it and its synonyms must be retained with a highly attenuated import. Possibly the subject was conceived as agitated on some one point only, but calm as to things in general.

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