Dighanikaya 33.304

33.304

Iti ekakavasena sāmaggirasaṃ dassetvā idāni dukavasena dassetuṃ puna desanaṃ ārabhi. Tattha nāmarūpaduke nāmanti cattāro arūpino khandhā nibbānañca. Tattha cattāro khandhā nāmanaṭṭhena nāmaṃ. Nāmanaṭṭhenāti nāmakaraṇaṭṭhena. Yathā hi mahājanasammatattā mahāsammatassa ‘‘mahāsammato’’ti nāmaṃ ahosi, yathā mātāpitaro ‘‘ayaṃ tisso nāma hotu, phusso nāma hotū’’ti evaṃ puttassa kittimanāmaṃ karonti, yathā vā ‘‘dhammakathiko vinayadharo’’ti guṇato nāmaṃ āgacchati, na evaṃ vedanādīnaṃ. Vedanādayo hi mahāpathavīādayo viya attano nāmaṃ karontāva uppajjanti. Tesu uppannesu tesaṃ nāmaṃ uppannameva hoti. Na hi vedanaṃ uppannaṃ ‘‘tvaṃ vedanā nāma hohī’’ti, koci bhaṇati, na cassā yena kenaci kāraṇena nāmaggahaṇakiccaṃ atthi, yathā pathaviyā uppannāya ‘‘tvaṃ pathavī nāma hohī’’ti nāmaggahaṇakiccaṃ natthi, cakkavāḷasinerumhi candimasūriyanakkhattesu uppannesu ‘‘tvaṃ cakkavāḷaṃ nāma, tvaṃ nakkhattaṃ nāma hohī’’ti nāmaggahaṇakiccaṃ natthi, nāmaṃ uppannameva hoti, opapātikā paññatti nipatati, evaṃ vedanāya uppannāya ‘‘tvaṃ vedanā nāma hohī’’ti nāmaggahaṇakiccaṃ natthi, tāya uppannāya vedanāti nāmaṃ uppannameva hoti. Saññādīsupi eseva nayo atītepi hi vedanā vedanāyeva. Saññā. Saṅkhārā. Viññāṇaṃ viññāṇameva. Anāgatepi. Paccuppannepi. Nibbānaṃ pana sadāpi nibbānamevāti. Nāmanaṭṭhena nāmaṃ. Namanaṭṭhenāpi cettha cattāro khandhā nāmaṃ. Te hi ārammaṇābhimukhaṃ namanti. Nāmanaṭṭhena sabbampi nāmaṃ. Cattāro hi khandhā ārammaṇe aññamaññaṃ nāmenti, nibbānaṃ ārammaṇādhipatipaccayatāya attani anavajjadhamme nāmeti.

Thus, having shown the essence of harmony by way of the Sets of Ones, he began the teaching again in order to show it now by way of the Sets of Twos. There, in the pair of name-and-form: ‘name’ means the four immaterial aggregates and Nibbāna. There, the four aggregates are ‘name’ in the sense of naming. ‘In the sense of naming’ means in the sense of making a name. For it is not as with Mahāsammata, who received the name ‘Mahāsammata’ because he was agreed upon by the great multitude; nor as parents give an artificial name to a son, saying, ‘Let this one be named Tissa, let him be named Phussa’; nor as a name comes from virtues, such as ‘preacher of the Dhamma’ or ‘bearer of the Vinaya’—it is not like that for feeling and the rest. For feeling and the rest, just like the great earth and so forth, arise making their own name. When they have arisen, their name has indeed arisen. For no one says to an arisen feeling, ‘Be named feeling!’, nor does it have the function of receiving a name for any reason whatsoever. Just as, when the earth has arisen, there is no function of receiving a name such as ‘Be named earth!’; when the world-system, Mount Sineru, the moon, the sun, and the constellations have arisen, there is no function of receiving a name such as ‘Be named world-system!’, ‘Be named constellation!’—the name has indeed arisen, the spontaneously arisen designation falls upon it—so too, when feeling has arisen, there is no function of receiving a name such as ‘Be named feeling!’; when it has arisen, the name ‘feeling’ has indeed arisen. In the case of perception and the rest, this same method applies: for even in the past, feeling was just feeling, perception was perception, formations were formations, consciousness was just consciousness; in the future too; in the present too. But Nibbāna is always just Nibbāna. It is name in the sense of naming. And here, the four aggregates are also ‘name’ in the sense of bending (namana): for they bend towards the object. All of it is also name in the sense of causing to bend (nāmana): for the four aggregates cause each other to bend onto an object, and Nibbāna, through its nature as an object-predominance condition, causes faultless dhammas to bend towards itself.