The Material Septad

Another comprehends formations by attributing the three characteristics to them through the medium of the material septad and the immaterial septad.

46. Herein, one who comprehends [them] by attributing [the characteristics] in the following seven ways is said to comprehend by attributing through the medium of the material septad, that is to say, (1) as taking up and putting down,

(2) as disappearance of what grows old in each stage, (3) as arising from nutriment, (4) as arising from temperature, (5) as kamma-born, (6) as consciousness-originated, and (7) as natural materiality. Hence the Ancients said:

“(1) As taking up and putting down,
(2) As growth and decline in every stage,
(3) As nutriment, (4) as temperature,
(5) As kamma, and (6) as consciousness,
(7) As natural materiality—
He sees with seven detailed insights.”

47. 1. Herein, taking up is rebirth-linking. Putting down is death. So the meditator allots one hundred years for this “taking up” and “putting down” and he attributes the three characteristics to formations. How? All formations between these limits are impermanent. Why? Because of the occurrence of rise and fall, because of change, because of temporariness, and because of preclusion of permanence. But since arisen formations have arrived at presence, and when present are afflicted by ageing, and on arriving at ageing are bound to dissolve, they are therefore painful because of continual oppression, because of being hard to bear, because of being the basis of suffering, and because of precluding pleasure. And since no one has any power over arisen formations in the three instances, “Let them not reach presence”, “Let those that have reached presence not age,” and “Let those that have reached ageing not dissolve,” and they are void of the possibility of any power being exercised over them, they are therefore not-self because void, because ownerless, because unsusceptible to the wielding of power, and because of precluding a self.^[1] [619]

48. 2. (a) Having attributed the three characteristics to materiality allotted one hundred years for the “taking up” and “putting down” thus, he next attributes them according to disappearance of what grows old in each stage. Herein, “disappearance of what grows old in each stage” is a name for the disappearance of the materiality that has grown old during a stage [of life]. The meaning is that he attributes the three characteristics by means of that.

49. How? He divides that same hundred years up into three stages, that is, the first stage, the middle stage, and the last stage. Herein, the first thirty-three years are called the first stage, the next thirty-four years are called the middle stage, and the next thirty-three years are called the last stage. So after dividing it up into these three stages, [he attributes the three characteristics thus:] The materiality occurring in the first stage ceased there without reaching the middle stage: therefore it is impermanent;what is impermanent is painful; what is painful is not-self. Also the materiality occurring in the middle stage ceased there without reaching the last stage: therefore it is impermanent too and painful and not-self. Also there is no materiality occurring in the thirty-three years of the last stage that is capable of out-lasting death: therefore that is impermanent too and painful and not-self. This is how he attributes the three characteristics.

50. 2. (b) Having attributed the three characteristics according to “disappearance of what grows old in each stage” thus by means of the first stage, etc., he again attributes the three characteristics according to “disappearance of what grows old in each stage” by means of the following ten decades: the tender decade, the sport decade, the beauty decade, the strength decade, the understanding decade, the decline decade, the stooping decade, the bent decade, the dotage decade, and the prone decade.

51. Herein, as to these decades: in the first place, the first ten years of a person with a hundred years’ life are called the tender decade;for then he is a tender unsteady child. The next ten years are called the sport decade; for he is very fond of sport then. The next ten years are called the beauty decade; for his beauty reaches its full extent then. The next ten years are called the strength decade; for his strength and power reach their full extent then. The next ten years are called the understanding decade; for his understanding is well established by then. Even in one naturally weak in understanding some understanding, it seems, arises at that time. The next ten years are called the decline decade; for his fondness for sport and his beauty, strength, and understanding decline then. The next ten years are called the stooping decade; for his figure [620] stoops forward then. The next ten years are called the bent decade; for his figure becomes bent like the end of a plough then. The next ten years are called the dotage decade; for he is doting then and forgets what he does. The next ten years are called the prone decade; for a centenarian mostly lies prone.

52. Herein, in order to attribute the three characteristics according to “disappearance of what grows old in each stage” by means of these decades, the meditator considers thus: The materiality occurring in the first decade ceases there without reaching the second decade: therefore it is impermanent, painful, not-self. The materiality occurring in the second decade … the materiality occurring in the ninth decade ceases there without reaching the tenth decade; the materiality occurring in the tenth decade ceases there without reaching the next becoming: therefore it is impermanent, painful, not-self. That is how he attributes the three characteristics.

53. 2. (c) Having attributed the three characteristics according to “disappearance of what grows old in each stage” thus by means of the decades, he again attributes the three characteristics according to “disappearance of what grows old in each stage” by taking that same hundred years in twenty parts of five years each.

54. How? He considers thus: The materiality occurring in the first five years ceases there without reaching the second five years: therefore it is impermanent, painful, not-self. The materiality occurring in the second five years … in the third … in the nineteenth five years ceases there without reaching the twentieth five years. There is no materiality occurring in the twentieth five years that is capable of outlasting death; therefore that is impermanent too, painful, not-self.

55. 2. (d) Having attributed the three characteristics according to “disappearance of what grows old in each stage” thus by means of the twenty parts, he again attributes the three characteristics according to “disappearance of what grows old in each stage” by taking twenty-five parts of four years each. (e) Next, by taking thirty-three parts of three years each, (f) by taking fifty parts of two years each, (g) by taking a hundred parts of one year each.

2. (h) Next he attributes the three characteristics according to “disappearance of what grows old in each stage” by means of each of the three seasons, taking each year in three parts.

56. How? The materiality occurring in the four months of the rains (vassāna) ceases there without reaching the winter (hemanta). The materiality occurring in the winter ceases there without reaching the summer (gimha). The materiality occurring in the summer ceases there without reaching the rains again: therefore it is impermanent, [621] painful, not-self.

57. 2. (i) Having attributed them thus, he again takes one year in six parts and attributes the three characteristics to this materiality according to “disappearance of what grows old in each stage” thus: The materiality occurring in the two months of the rains (vassāna) ceases there without reaching the autumn (sarada). The materiality occurring in the autumn … in the winter (hemanta) … in the cool (sisira) … in the spring (vasanta) … the materiality occurring in the summer (gimha) ceases there without reaching the rains again: therefore it is impermanent too, painful, not-self.

58. 2. (j) Having attributed them thus, he next attributes the characteristics by means of the dark and bright halves of the moon thus: The materiality occurring in the dark half of the moon ceases there without reaching the bright half; the materiality occurring in the bright half ceases there without reaching the dark half: therefore it is impermanent, painful, not-self.

59. 2. (k) Next he attributes the three characteristics by means of night and day thus: The materiality occurring in the night ceases there without reaching the day; the materiality occurring in the day ceases there without reaching the night: therefore it is impermanent, painful, not-self.

60. 2. (l) Next he attributes the three characteristics by taking that same day in six parts beginning with the morning thus: The materiality occurring in the morning ceased there without reaching the noon;the materiality occurring in the noon … without reaching the evening; the materiality occurring in the evening … the first watch; the materiality occurring in the first watch … the middle watch; the materiality occurring in the middle watch ceased there without reaching the last watch; the materiality occurring in the last watch ceased there without reaching the morning again: therefore it is impermanent, painful, notself.

61. 2. (m) Having attributed them thus, he again attributes the three characteristics to that same materiality by means of moving forward and moving backward, looking toward and looking away, bending and stretching, thus: The materiality occurring in the moving forward ceases there without reaching the moving backward; the materiality occurring in the moving backward … the looking toward; the materiality occurring in the looking toward … the looking away; the materiality occurring in the looking away … the bending; the materiality occurring in the bending ceases there without reaching the stretching: therefore it is impermanent, painful, not-self (cf. M-a I 260).

62. 2. (n) Next he divides a single footstep into six parts as “lifting up,” “shifting forward,” “shifting sideways,” “lowering down,” “placing down,” and “fixing down^[2].”

63. Herein, lifting up is raising the foot from the ground. Shifting forward is shifting it to the front. Shifting sideways is moving the foot to one side or the other in seeing a thorn, stump, snake, and so on. Lowering down is letting the foot down. [622] Placing down is putting the foot on the ground. Fixing down is pressing the foot on the ground while the other foot is being lifted up.

64. Herein, in the lifting up two elements, the earth element and the water element, are subordinate^[3] and sluggish while the other two are predominant and strong. Likewise in the shifting forward and shifting sideways. In the lowering down two elements, the fire element and the air element, are subordinate and sluggish while the other two are predominant and strong. Likewise in the placing down and fixing down.

He attributes the three characteristics to materiality according to “disappearance of what grows old in each stage” by means of these six parts into which he has thus divided it.

65. How? He considers thus: The elements and the kinds of derived materiality occurring in the lifting up all ceased there without reaching the shifting forward: therefore they are impermanent, painful, not-self. Likewise those occurring in the shifting forward … the shifting sideways; those occurring in the shifting sideways … the lowering down; those occurring in the lowering down … the placing down; those occurring in the placing down cease there without reaching the fixing down; thus formations keep breaking up, like crackling sesame seeds put into a hot pan; wherever they arise, there they cease stage by stage, section by section, term by term, each without reaching the next part: therefore they are impermanent, painful, not-self.

66. When he sees formations stage by stage with insight thus, his comprehension of materiality has become subtle. Here is a simile for its subtlety. A border dweller, it seems, who was familiar with torches of wood and grass, etc., but had never seen a lamp before, came to a city. Seeing a lamp burning in the market, he asked a man, “I say, what is that lovely thing called?”—“What is lovely about that? It is called a lamp. Where it goes to when its oil and wick are used up no one knows.” Another told him, “That is crudely put; for the flame in each third portion of the wick as it gradually burns up ceases there without reaching the other parts.” Other told him, “That is crudely put too; for the flame in each inch, in each half-inch, in each thread, in each strand, will cease without reaching the other strands; but the flame cannot appear without a strand.”

67. [623] Herein, the meditator’s attribution of the three characteristics to materiality delimited by the hundred years as “taking up” and “putting down” is like the man’s knowledge stated thus, “Where it goes when its oil and wick are used up no one knows.” The meditator’s attribution of the three characteristics according to “disappearance of what grows old in each stage” to the materiality delimited by the third part of the hundred years is like the man’s knowledge stated thus, “The flame in each third portion of the wick ceases without reaching the other parts.” The meditator’s attribution of the three characteristics to materiality delimited by the periods of ten, five, four, three, two years, one year, is like the man’s knowledge stated thus, “The flame in each inch will cease without reaching the others.” The meditator’s attribution of the three characteristics to materiality delimited by the four-month and two-month periods by classing the year as threefold and sixfold respectively according to the seasons is like the man’s knowledge stated thus, “The flame in each half-inch will cease without reaching the others.” The meditator’s attribution of the three characteristics to materiality delimited by means of the dark and bright halves of the moon, by means of night and day, and by means of morning, etc., taking one night and day in six parts, is like the man’s knowledge stated thus, “The flame in each thread will cease without reaching the others.” The meditator’s attribution of the three characteristics to materiality delimited by means of each part, namely, “moving forward,” etc., and “lifting up,” etc., is like the man’s knowledge stated thus, “The flame in each strand will cease without reaching the others.”

68. 3–6. Having in various ways thus attributed the three characteristics to materiality according to “disappearance of what grows old in each stage,” he analyzes that same materiality and divides it into four portions as “arising from nutriment,” etc., and he again attributes the three characteristics to each portion.

3. Herein, materiality arising from nutriment becomes evident to him through hunger and its satisfaction. For materiality that is originated when one is hungry is parched and stale, and it is as ugly and disfigured as a parched stump, as a crow perching in a charcoal pit. That originated when hunger is satisfied is plump, fresh, tender, smooth and soft to touch. Discerning that, he attributes the three characteristics to it thus: The materiality occurring when hunger is satisfied ceases there without reaching the time when one is hungry; therefore it is impermanent, painful, not-self.

69. 4. That arising from temperature becomes evident through cool and heat. For materiality that is originated when it is hot is parched, stale and ugly. [624] Materiality originated by cool temperature is plump, fresh, tender, smooth, and soft to touch. Discerning that, he attributes the three characteristics to it thus: The materiality occurring when it is hot ceases there without reaching the time when it is cool. The materiality occurring when it is cool ceases there without reaching the time when it is hot: therefore it is impermanent, painful, not-self.

70. 5. The kamma-born becomes evident through the sense doors, that is, the base [of consciousness]. For in the case of the eye door there are thirty material instances with decads of the eye, the body, and sex; but with the twenty-four instances originated by temperature, consciousness, and nutriment, [that is to say, three bare octads,] which are their support, there are fifty-four. Likewise in the case of the doors of the ear, nose, and tongue. In the case of the body door there are forty-four with the decads of body and sex and the instances originated by temperature, and so on. In the case of the mind door there are fifty-four, too, with the decads of the heart-basis, the body, and sex, and those instances originated by the temperature, and so on. Discerning all that materiality, he attributes the three characteristics to it thus: The materiality occurring in the eye door ceases there without reaching the ear door; the materiality occurring in the ear door … the nose door; the materiality occurring in the nose door … the tongue door; the materiality occurring in the tongue door … the body door; the materiality occurring in the body door ceases there without reaching the mind door: therefore it is impermanent, painful, not-self.

71. 6. The consciousness-originated becomes evident through [the behaviour of] one who is joyful or grieved. For the materiality arisen at the time when he is joyful is smooth, tender, fresh and soft to touch. That arisen at the time when he is grieved is parched, stale and ugly. Discerning that, he attributes the three characteristics to it thus: The materiality occurring at the time when one is joyful ceases there without reaching the time when one is grieved; the materiality occurring at the time when one is grieved ceases there without reaching the time when one is joyful: therefore it is impermanent, painful, not-self.

72. When he discerns consciousness-originated materiality and attributes the three characteristics to it in this way, this meaning becomes evident to him:

Life, person, pleasure, pain just these alone
Join in one conscious moment that flicks by.
Gods, though they live for four-and-eighty thousand
Eons, are not the same for two such moments. [625]

Ceased aggregates of those dead or alive
Are all alike, gone never to return;
And those that break up meanwhile, and in future,
Have traits no different from those ceased before.

No [world is] born if [consciousness is] not
Produced; when that is present, then it lives;
When consciousness dissolves, the world is dead:
The highest sense this concept will allow.

No store of broken states, no future stock;

Those born balance like seeds on needle points.
Breakup of states is foredoomed at their birth;
Those present decay, unmingled with those past.
They come from nowhere, break up, nowhere go;
Flash in and out, as lightning in the sky^[4] (Nidd I 42).

73. 7. Having attributed the three characteristics to that arising from nutriment, etc., he again attributes the three characteristics to natural materiality. Natural materiality is a name for external materiality that is not bound up with faculties and arises along with the eon of world expansion, for example, iron, copper, tin, lead, gold, silver, pearl, gem, beryl, conch shell, marble, coral, ruby, opal, soil, stone, rock, grass, tree, creeper, and so on (see Vibh 83). That becomes evident to him by means of an asoka-tree shoot.

74. For that to begin with is pale pink; then in two or three days it becomes dense red, again in two or three days it becomes dull red, next [brown,] the colour of a tender [mango] shoot; next, the colour of a growing shoot; next, the colour of pale leaves; next, the colour of dark green leaves. After it has become the colour of dark green leaves, as it follows out the successive stages of such material continuity, it eventually becomes withered foliage, and at the end of the year it breaks loose from its stem and falls off.

75. Discerning that, he attributes the three characteristics to it thus: The materiality occurring when it is pale pink ceases there without reaching the time when it is dense red; the materiality occurring when it is dense red … dull red; the materiality occurring when it is dull red … the colour of a tender [mango] shoot; the materiality occurring when it is the colour of a tender [mango] shoot … the colour of a growing shoot; the materiality occurring when it is the colour of a growing shoot … the colour of pale green leaves; the materiality occurring when it is the colour of pale green leaves … the colour of dark green leaves; the materiality occurring when it is the colour of dark green leaves … the time when it is withered foliage; the materiality occurring when it is withered foliage ceases there without [626] reaching the time when it breaks loose from its stem and falls off: therefore it is impermanent, painful, not-self.

He comprehends all natural materiality in this way.

This is how, firstly, he comprehends formations by attributing the three characteristics to them by means of the material septad.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

“No one, not even the Blessed One, has such mastery; for it is impossible for anyone to alter the three characteristics. The province of supernormal power is simply the alteration of a state” (Vism-mhṭ 797).

“‘Because of precluding a self’ means because of precluding the self conceived by those outside the Dispensation; for the non-existence in dhammas of any self as conceived by outsiders is stated by the words, ‘because void’; but by this expression [it is stated] that there is no self because there is no such individual essence” (Vism-mhṭ 797).

[2]:

Vītiharaṇa—“shifting sideways,” sannikkhepana—“placing down,” and sannirujjhana—“fixing down,” are not in PED; cf. M-a I 260.

[3]:

Omatta—“subordinate”: not in PED.

[4]:

This verse is quoted twice in the Mahāniddesa (Nidd I 42 & 118). For Vism-mhṭ’s comment see Ch. VIII, note 11. Vism-mhṭ and the Sinhalese translation have been taken as guides in rendering this rather difficult verse.

There is another stanza in the Niddesa not quoted here:

“… this concept will allow.
States happen as their tendencies dictate;
And they are modelled by desire; their stream
Uninterruptedly flows ever on
Conditioned by the sixfold base of contact.
No store of broken states …”