Early Monastic Buddhism v2.c35.s3.t5.21

v2.c35.s3.t5.21

The S. admit impermanency (*anityatā*) of the constituted things but they contend that the “dharmas” (or *bhāvas*) of the past are transmitted into the present and likewise the "dharmas" of the future are latent in the present. This we may illustrate, by citing the example of a sweet mango—the past mango seed transmits into the present "mangoness" if not the "sweetness" and similarly the "future mango" receives its "mangoness" from the present: the mango seed can never produce any other fruit though there may be a change in the quality and shape and colour of the mango. The S. speak of a being in the same way. According to them a being is composed of five dharmas (not five khandhas), viz., (i) citta (mind), (ii) caitasika (mental states), (iii) rūpa (matter), (iv) visamprayuktasamskāra (states independent of the mind),¹ and (v) asamskṛtas (the unconstituted).² The five dharmas (not elements as usually understood) persist in a