Early Monastic Buddhism v1.c18.1

v1.c18.1

The third step of the *Majjhimā-patipadā* is the acquisition of knowledge (*paññā*), in other words, *sammādiṭṭhi* or the true view of the worldly objects. According to the Buddhists, the true view is that the five *khandhas*, which constitute the world, are without any substance (*anatta*), subject to decay (*anicca*) and so instead of being a source of happiness are really causes of grief (*dukkha*). This view of the constituted world can be developed after a long course of physical and mental discipline dealt with in the previous two chapters and a close study of the Nikāyas, which offer an analysis of the constituents and prove that these have only a fleeting existence, and that also in the eyes of a person whose vision is blurred. The aim of the Nikāya literature, therefore, is to clear up the blurred vision of its students. As it is not feasible as well as desirable to place the highest (*paramattha*) truth all at once before the eyes of a beginner, it starts with an analysis and examination of the things (*dukkha* = *pañcupādānakkhandhā*) around him, how they originate (*samudaya*) and suffer decay (*nirodha*), and the ways and means (*magga*) by which their complete decay can be effected.¹ Of these four processes,² the first two are concerned with objects which are not real in the highest sense, so these two should be treated as conventional (*sammuti* = *saṃvṛti*) truths, and for this reason, in the *Abhidharmakośa*,¹ these two are called samala-prajñā (not immaculate knowledge). The other two, *nirodha* and *magga*, are amala-prajñā (immaculate knowledge) inasmuch as these are related to the highest (*paramattha*) truth. The process of intellectual culture in Buddhism, therefore, consists in realising the highest truth, *nirodha*, through the comprehension of the conventional truths, *dukkha* and *samudaya*. By the former are meant the (i) k h a n d h a s, (ii) d h ā t u s, (iii) ā y a t a n a s, (iv) i n d r i y a s, and (v) a r i y a s a c c a s, and by the latter (vi) the theory of causation, p a ṭ i c c a s a-m u p p ā d a.