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Manual of Indian Buddhism c5.s2: 2. The Elements of Existence. Karman. The Road to Deliverance

Manual of Indian Buddhism c5.s2

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2. The Elements of Existence. Karman. The Road to Deliverance

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Every organized being consists of Name and Form. The former denotes all mental or internal phenomena; the latter, all physical or external phenomena¹. Nāman generally includes four of the five Skandhas, viz. *vedanā*, feeling; *sañjñā*, notion; *saṃskārās*, mental dispositions, and *vijñāna*, clear consciousness, discrimination. *Rūpa* comprehends the four elements (*mahābhūtāni*): earth, water, fire, air, and every form springing from them².

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¹ Cp. Śatapatha-Brāhmaṇa XIV, 11, 4, 3.

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² MV. I, 6, 36. Dh. Saṅg. 1309 adds a fifth, viz. *asaṅkhata dhātu*. In Saṃy. N. II, p. 3 the four Skandhas are *vedanā*, *saññā*, *phassa*, and *manasikāra*. The usual N. enumeration of the 5 Skandhas is: *rūpa*, *vedanā*, *sañjñā*, *saṃskāra*, *vijñāna*; see BURNOUF Intr. 511, but Śaṃkara on Brahma-S. II, 2, 18, Dharma-S. XXII, and Sarvad. Saṅg. p. 20 follow a different order, a circumstance connected with the variance in the definitions of the terms. — A scholastic enumeration of the twenty-eight-fold Rūpakkhandha occurs in Vis. M.; see CHILDERS s. v. *rūpam*. — On the 18 Dhātus, principles or properties of primary substances, see Dharma-S. XXV and the references there. How these are connected and how unconnected with each of the 5 Skandhas, see Dhatuk. P. p. 2; cp. p. 51 f.

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It appears from this enumeration that Nāmarūpa and the 5 Skandhas are coextensive terms. The definition of the mental Skandhas is attended with considerable difficulties, owing to the ambiguousness of most terms, and the loose way in which they are used. Not to go farther than the Pāli texts, we see how *saññā*, notion or first perception, and *vedanā*, feeling, sensation, form each a separate Khandha and at the same time occur as two subdivisions of the Saṃkhāra-khandha. This, however unlogical, is not inexplicable, provided we do not assign to Saṃkhāra the meaning of "discrimination", as HARDY has done. The first of the 52 Saṃkhāras is *phassa*, touch, contact, whereas the sentiments as fear, joy, shame &c. are likewise Saṃkhāras; which would be impossible if the term had the meaning assigned to it by HARDY³. Saṃkhāras are, in our opinion, passing impressions, mental dispositions, comprising both intellectual affections and sentiments. Hence the first step in the line of Saṃkhāras is *phassa*, contact⁴; the second *vedanā*, feeling; the third *saññā*, notion (e. g. of different colours); *cetanā*, thought, intention; *manasikāra*, attention; *jīvitindriya*, vitality⁵; *cittekaggatā*, concentration of the mind; *vitakka*, consideration; *vicāra*, deliberation; and so on⁶.

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³ In Vyu. § 104 *sparśa* &c. are simply called *caitasikā dharmās*, mental conditions.

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⁴ Somewhat differently Mil. P. 60 ff.

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⁵ Cp. Dh. Saṅg. 295.

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⁶ Abhidhamma-Saṅgaha, cited by CHILDERS Dict. p. 455 for the whole series; Dh. Saṅg. 338. Minor differences in the terms and in the order may be left unnoticed. The list in Vyu. I. c. contains 94 terms; cp. HARDY M. of B. 404 ff. Dharma-S. distinguishes *Cittasaṃprayuktasamskāras*, 40 in number, from the 12 *Cittaviprayuktasamskāras*, XXX, XXXI.

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*Viññāṇa*, clear consciousness, has 89 subdivisions, and comprises clear consciousness of what is transmitted by the organs of seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, touch, and the sixth sense, *manas*; farther the clear consciousness or discrimination of what is good, bad, or indifferent. In the latter case the term denotes spontaneous or instinctive moral discrimination⁷.

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⁷ The enumeration of the subdivisions in HARDY M. of B. 419 ff. Cp. the extracts from Vis. M. and Abhidh. Saṅg. with CHILDERS p. 577. The list much shorter Vyu. § 105.

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The N. definition of the four mental Skandhas⁸ is, shortly formulated, as follows: *Viññāṇa* is clear consciousness of what is going on in our interior. From it in combination with the Rūpaskandha springs *vedanā*, feeling of what is pleasant, painful, &c. *Sañjñā* is the distinct notion of an object, by which we are enabled to recognize the object. *Samskāras* are affections, temporary mental or moral dispositions, having their motive in *vedanā*; to them belong the *kleśas* (defiling passions¹) as love, hatred, &c.; the *upakleśas* (secondary *kleśas*), as pride, conceit &c., piety and impiety².

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⁸ Sarvad. Saṅg. p. 20.

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¹ Dharma-S. LXVI, note.

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² The number in Dharma-S. LXIX is twentyfour; other sources see Pugg. P. II, 1-9 give only twenty; see Dharma-S. l. c. note.

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The aggregation of the five Skandhas constitute the *pudgala*, *puggala*, what we would call the individual, but what in the idealistic system of Buddhism is a being without real individuality. Although the Skandhas constitute the Pudgala, it is explicitly asserted that neither separately nor conjointly they *are* the Pudgala³.

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³ Mil. P. 25 ff.; cp. 61, where the expression *ekacco puggalo* may not unaptly be rendered with "somebody", but in an idealistic, i. e. nihilistic sense.

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The cause of the aggregation of the Skandhas, i. e. of birth and rebirth, is Karman. Hence it is said: "It is Name-and-Form which is reborn". We have seen that Nāma-rūpa is coextensive with the 5 Skandhas⁴. The passage through a succession of existences, transmigration, bears the usual name of Samsāra.

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⁴ How the process of rebirth is going on, is minutely expounded Mil. P. 43; 72; 77.

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The Karman is supposed to have no beginning, but it *can* have an end. The means of attaining that end, of destroying the working of Karman is the Eightfold Path, as the Master set forth in his first discourse⁵.

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⁵ See above p. 23. The Pali terms are: *sammā-diṭṭhi*, *s.-saṅkappa*, *s.-vācā*, *s.-kammanta*, *s.-ājīva*, *s.-vāyāma*, *s.-sati*, *s.-samādhi*; in Skr. *samyag-dṛṣṭi*, *s.-saṅkalpa*, *s.-vāc*, *s.-karmānta*, *s.-ājīva*, *s.-vyāyāma*, *s.-smṛti*, *s.-samādhi*. Definitions Dh. Saṅg. 297-304. Cp. BURNOUF, Intr. 519. The Fivefold Path, *pañcaṅgiko maggo* comprises Nos. 1, 2, 6, 7 and 8 of the eight; Dh. Saṅg. p. 21.

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According to the stage one has reached in one's course towards Deliverance, *Nirvāṇa*, there is a fourfold division. Those who are, walking in this path of Sanctification in four stages are called, respectively: Srotaāpanna, Sakṛdāgāmin, Anāgāmin, Arhat (Pāli: Sotāpanna, Sakadāgāmin, Anāgāmin, Arahā), and with a common designation Srāvaka, Savaka, disciple. Each of the stages or path-divisions is subdivided into a higher and a lower degree, the *mārga*, *magga*, and its *phala*, result, fruition⁶.

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⁶ See CHILDERS s. vv. *maggo* and *phalam*; cp. BIGANDET I, 153. For the four saints and their characteristics see Vyu. §§ 46, 48; and cp. BEAL Cat. p. 191; cp. MINAYEF Recherches I, 217 ff., where sectarian views also are noticed.

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The Srotaāpanna is he who has entered the first stage (*srotaāpatti*, *sotāpatti*), the neophyte. He has got rid of the first three bonds of human passion, *samyojana*⁷; the doors of the states of punishments, *apāya*, are shut for him.

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⁷ *Viz.* *diṭṭhi* or *sakkāyadiṭṭhi*, heresy or the heresy of individuality; *vicikicchā*, scepticism, and *sīlabbataparāmāsa*, observance of superstitious rites. Aṅg. N. II, p. 238; Dh. Saṅg. 1002-1005; Dharma-S. LXVIII. There are several classes of Srotaāpannas; the lowest is he who will be reborn 7 times at most, called *saptakṛbhavaparama*, P. *sattakkhattuparama*, Vyu. § 46; CHILDERS s. v. *paramo*; *kulamkula*, P. *kolamkola*, one who will be reborn 2 or 3 times; Pugg. P. p. 16; Aṅg. N. p. 233; Vyu. l. e. *Cp.* Dharma-S. CIII, note.

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The Sakṛdāgāmin is so termed because he will once be reborn in the world of men. He is not only free from the first three bonds, but has in addition reduced to a minimum *rāga*, affection, *dveṣa*; P. *dosa*, hatred, and *moha*, infatuation⁸.

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⁸ Synonymous with Sak. is *Ekabijin*, corrupted in Skr. to *Ekavīcika*; Pugg. P. p. 16; Aṅg. N. I, 233 ff. Vyu. § 46.

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The Anāgāmin is he who has freed himself from the first five or lower (avarabhāgīya, P. orambhāgīya) bonds¹ and will not be reborn on earth or in a Kāmaloka, but in a Brahmaloka.

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¹ To wit the 3 specified above, with kāmarāga, attachment, and paṭigha, antipathy; Majjh. N. I, p. 432; Aṅg. N. II, p. 238; somewhat different in Dh. Saṅg. 1460. Cp. Divy. 533; 553; Vyu. § 109. — Five classes of Anāgāmins are enumerated Pugg. P. p. 16 f. Vyut. § 46; cp. CHILDERS s. v. anāgāmī.

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The Arhat is he in whom the causes of moral infection² are exhausted, the impurities washed away, the Kleśas³ rejected; who has fulfilled his task, laid down his burden, removed all bonds⁴, obtained the four kinds of transcendent faculties⁵. He is no more subject to rebirth⁶.

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² Āsrava, P. āsava. Their number is three: kāma-, bhava- and avijjāsava; or four: the foregoing with addition of heresy; BURNOUF Intr. 823; CHILDERS s. v. āsavo.

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³ I. e. besetting evil propensities of the mind, 10 in number; enumerated Dh. Saṅg. 1548; with some variations in Lal. V. p. 59 (where we have to read rāgo for rogo); 348 (r. rāgo, and add mrakṣa); 349.

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⁴ Not only the lower, but also the higher (ūrdhvabhāgīya, P. uddhambhāgīya); see CHILDERS s. v. saṃyojana; the list in Dh. Saṅg. 1460 shows variations. Cp. Vyu. § 109.

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⁵ Patisambhidā; more about this term in the sequel.

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⁶ The character and qualities of the four degrees of Saints are fully described in Mil. P. 102 ff. Cp. Vyu. § 46. — The fourfold division of Yogins is: Prathamakalpika, Madhubhūmika, Prajñājyotis, and Atikrāntabhavanīya; Yogas. III, 50, Comm.

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One who, without having entered the first stage, is in possession of those conditions upon which the commencement of sanctification immediately ensues, is called a Gotrabhū⁷. Such a previous stage, which is, so to say, the court-yard of Holiness, is known to the N. Buddhists by the name of Gotrabhūmi⁸.

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⁷ Pugg. P. p. 13; cp. CHILDERS s. v.

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⁸ WASSILIEF B. 239.

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Those who are walking in the four paths in their progress towards final beatitude rank as true Āryas in contradistinction to the profanum vulgus, the Pṛthagjanas. Their power far surpasses that of common mortals, which is nothing strange, as the notion that transcendent power is attainable by man is prevalent among Hindu sects; the Yogin more especially is, to vulgar apprehension, a worker of miracles. Further on we shall have occasion to revert to this subject.

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The object of the Ārya is to reach Nirvāṇa⁹. It is impossible within a short compass to refer to all the opinions emitted on the subject; it would fill a volume. We will, therefore, ourselves to the main points.

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⁹ Synonymous terms are Nirvṛti, Nibbuti; Amṛta, Amata, and others. The terms are known also to other Indian sects, with a different shade of meaning. The usual term in the Yoga is Kaivalya; in the Vedānta, Mukti, Mokṣa; in the Nyaya, Apavarga; in the system of the Śaiva-monks, Duhkhānta. In Caraka IV, 5 occur as synonymous with "final rest": śānti, amṛta, brahman, nirvāṇa.

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In the first place we must distinguish between the secondary Nirvāṇa and the final or absolute one. The former Nirvāṇa, attained by Arhats in this life, is virtually the same as the Jivanmukti of the Vedāntins. It is specified by the addition of upādisesa or sa-upādisesa in Pāli, upadhiśeṣa with the N. Buddhists¹⁰, i. e. having the residuum of a substratum.

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¹⁰ Vyu. § 95; BURNOUF Intr. 590; CHILDERS s. v. upādiseso, where the remark that nirupadhi is with the S. Buddhists a distinctive epithet of the Arhat, must be coupled with what the same author says s. v. upadhi: "the term nirupadhi may also be applied to one who has attained anupādisesa-nibbāna, has ceased to exist". Now the N. Buddhists use nirupadhi exactly in the latter sense, and yet they are blamed by the author! On the confusion in Itiv. p. 30 see above p. 50.

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The second or final, absolute Nirvāṇa (nirupadhiśeṣa, P. anupādisesa) — in case of the Buddha usually styled Parinirvāṇa — can only be reached after death. By it all suffering ceases, completely and for ever, and in so far it may be extolled as a blissful state, and as eternal, amṛta (amata). Does it imply a complete cessation of consciousness? It does, of course, if we draw the logical conclusions from the fundamental principles underlying the creed¹. But not every one draws logical conclusions, and it would seem that even in the bosom of the Congregation there reigned some uncertainty anent the point in question. This would not be very wonderful. When the brethren repeatedly heard how the Buddha was conscious of all occurrences in his former births, some of them may involuntarily have been led to believe that memory, consciousness survives after death. We may understand how in order to prevent fruitless discussions among the brethren the Buddha is represented to have laid down the rule that the question: "Does the Tathāgata exist after death, or does he not?" is one of those questions that must be set aside as useless and remain unanswered².

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¹ We refer to the exhaustive and masterly article nibbāna in CHILDERS Dict. Cp. D'ALWIS, Buddhist Nirvāṇa; FRANKFURTER, Buddhist Nirvāṇa and the Noble Eightfold Path, JRAS of 1880; RHYS DAVIDS B. 14. — For the Mahayānist the idea of Nirvāṇa is a mere delusion, as we shall see in the sequel.

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² Majjh. N. I, 426 ff.; 484; Samy. N. II, p. 222; Mil. P. 145. It is not easy to reconcile, unless by sophisms, this agnosticism with the words spoken by the Tathāgata in Samy. N. II, p. 232: „Puggalam passāmi param maraṇā Nirayam upapannan”. And how to explain another passage, Samy. N. III, p. 109, where the theory that the “khiṇāsavo ucchijjāti, na hoti paraṃ maraṇā” is rejected as being heterodox?

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Practically, Nirvāṇa means a happy death without fear of rebirth. If so, how then can the Buddha be said to have conquered Māra? Because he conquered, not, indeed, physical death, but the abject fear of death. The means of bringing about that result, consists in representing death as something extremely blissful.

Cites (22)