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THE PATH OF PURIFICATION
  (VISUDDHIMAGGA)
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Chapter XVIII:  Description of Purification of View
(Ditthi-visuddhi-niddesa)  
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1.   [587] Now it was said earlier (Ch.XIV,§32) that he 'should first fortify his knowledge by learning and questioning about those things that are the "soil" after he has perfected the two purifications - Purification of Virtue and Purification of Consciousnesss - that are the "roots"'. Now of those, Purification of Virtue is the quite purified fourfold virtue beginning with Patimokkha restraint; and that has already been dealt with in detail in the description of Virtue (Chs.I and II); and this Purification of Consciousness, namely, the eight attainments, together with access concentration, has also been dealt with in details in all its aspects in the Description of Concentration (Chs.III to XIII), stated under the heading of 'Consciousness' [in the introductory verse]. So those two Purifications should be understood in detail as given there.
2.   But it was said above (Ch.XIV,§32) that, 'The five purifications, Purification of View, Purification by Overcoming Doubt, Purification by Knowledge and Vision of What is the Path and What is Not the Path, Purification by Knowledge and Vision of the Way, and Purification by Knowledge and Vision, are the "trunk". Herein, 'Purification of View' is the correct seeing of mentality-materiality. {1}

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[Defining of Mentality-Materiality]
[Definition Based on the Four Primaries]
[a. Starting with Mentality]

3.   One who wants to accomplish this, if, firstly, his vehicle is serenity, {2} should emerge from any fine material or immaterial jhana, except the base consisting of neither perception nor non-perception {3} , and he should discern, according to characteristic, function, etc., the jhana factors consisting of applied thought, etc., and the states associated with them, [that is, feeling, perception, and so on]. When he has done so, all that should be defined as 'mentality (nama)' in the sense of bending (namana) {4} because of its bending on to the object.
4.   Then, just as a man, by following a snake that he has seen in his house, finds its abode, so too this meditator scrutinizes that mentality, he seeks to find out what its occurrence is supported by and he sees that it is supported [558] by the matter of the elements, which are the heart's support, and the remaining, support. He defines all that as 'materiality (rupa)' because it is molested (ruppana)' [by cold, etc.]. After that he defines in brief as 'mentality-materiality (nama rupa)' the mentality that has the characteristic of 'bending' and the materiality that has the characteristic of 'being molested'.

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[b. Starting with Materiality]
  But one whose vehicle is pure insight, or that same aforesaid one whose vehicle is serenity, discerns the four elements in brief or in detail in one of the various ways given in the chapter on the Definition of the Four Elements (Ch.XI,§27ff.). Then when the elements have become clear in their correct essential characteristics, firstly, in the case of head hair originated by kamma there become plain ten instances of materiality, (rupani) with the body decad thus: the four elements and colour, odour, flavour, nutritive essence, and life, and body-sensitivity. And because the sex decad is present there too there are another ten [that is the same nine with sex instead of body-sensitivity]. And since the octad-with-nutritive-essence-as-eighth [that is the same nine with sex instead of essence-as-eighth [that is, the four elements and colour, odour, flavour, and nutritive-essence,] originated by nutriment, and that originated by temperature, and that originated by consciousness are present there too, there are another twenty-four. So there is a total of forty-four instances of materiality in the case of each of the twenty-four bodily parts of fourfold origination. But in the case of the four, namely, sweat, tears, spittle, and snot, {5} which are originated by temperature and by consciousness, there are sixteen instances of materiality with the two octads-with-nutritive-essences-as-eighth in each. In the case of the four, namely, gorge, dung, pus, and urine, which are originated by temperature, eight instances of materiality become plain in each with the octad-with-nutritive-essence-as-eighth in what is originated only by temperature. This in the first place is the method in the case of the thirty-two bodily aspects.
6.   But there are ten more aspects {6} that become clear when those thirty-two aspects have become clear. And as regards these, firstly nine instances of materiality, that is, the octad-with-nutritive-essence-as-eighth plus life, become plain in the case of the kamma-born part of heat (fire) that digests what is eaten, etc., and likewise nine [instances of materiality], that is, the octad-with-nutritive-essence-as-eighth plus sound, in the case of the consciousness-born part [of air consisting] of in-breaths and out-breaths; and thirty-three instances of materiality, that is, the [kamma-born] life-ennead and three octads-with-nutritive-essence-as-eighth, in the case of each of the remaining eight [parts] that are fourfold origination.
7.   And when these instances of materiality derived [by clinging] from the primaries have thus become plain in detail in the case of these forty-two aspects, [that is, 32 parts of the body, 4 modes of fire and 6 modes of air,] another sixty instances of materiality become plain with the physical [heart] basis and the [five] sense doors, that is, with the heart-basis decad and the five decads beginning with the eye decad.
  Taking all these together under the characteristic of 'being
8. molested', he sees them as 'materiality'. When he has discerned materiality thus, the immaterial states become plain to him in accordance with the sense doors, that is to say, the eighty-one kinds {7} of mundane consiousness consisting of the two sets of five consciousness ((34)-(38) and (50)-(54)), the three kinds of mind element ((39), (55) and (70)) and the sixty-eight [589] kinds of mind-consciousness element; and then seven consciousness-concomitants, that is, (i)contact, feeling, perception, (ii) volition, (vii) life, (viii) steadiness of consciousness, and (xxx) attention, which are invariably conascent with all these consciousnesses. The supramundane kinds of consciousness, however, are not discernible either by one who is practising pure insight or by one whose vehicle is serenity because they are out of their reach. Taking all these immaterial states together under the characteristic of 'bending', he sees them as 'mentality'.
  This is how one [meditator] defines mentality-materiality in detail through the method of defining the four elements.

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[Definition Based on the 18 Elements]
9.   Another does it by means of the eighteen elements. How? Here a Bhikkhu considers the elements thus; 'There are in this person the eye element, ... the mind-consciousness element'. Instead of taking the piece of flesh variegated with white and black circles, having length and breadth, and fastened in the eye socket with a string of sinew, which the world terms 'an eye', he defines as 'eye element' the eye sensitivity of the kind described among the kinds of derived materiality in the
10. Description of the Aggregates (Ch.XIV,§47). But he does not define as 'eye element' the remaining instances of materiality, which total 53, that is, the 9 conascent instances of materiality consisting of the 4 primary elements, which are its support, the 4 concomitant instances of materiality, namely, colour, odour, flavour, and nutritive essence, and the sustaining life faculty; and also the 20 kamma-born instances of materiality that are there too, consisting of the body decad and sex decad; and the 24 un-clung-to instances of materiality consisting of the 3 octads-with-nutritive-essence-as-eighth, which are originated by nutriment and so on. The same method applies to the ear element and the rest. But in the case of the body element the remaining instances of materiality total 43, though some say 45 by adding sound and making nine each for the temperature-born and consciousness-born
11. [sound]. So these five sensitivities, and their five respective objective fields, that is, visible data, sounds, odours, flavours, and tangible data, make ten instances of materiality, which are ten [of the eighteen] elements. The remaining instances of materiality are the mental-data element only.
  The consciousness that occurs with the eye as its support and contingent upon a visible datum is called 'eye-consciousness element' [and likewise with the ear and so on]. In this way the two sets of five consciousness are the five 'consciousness elements'. The three kinds of consciousness consisting of mind element ((39), (55) and (70)) are the single 'mind element'. The 68 kinds of mind-consciousness element are the 'mind-consciousness element.' So all the 81 kinds of mundane consciousness make up seven kinds of consciousness element; and the contact, etc., associated therewith are the mental-data element.
  So 10 1/2 elements are materiality and 7 1/2 elements [590] are mentality. This is how one [meditator] defines mentality-materiality by means of the 18 elements.

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[3. Definition Based on the Twelve Bases]
12.   Another does it by means of the 12 bases. How? He defines as 'eye base' the sensitivity only, leaving out the 53 remaining instances of materiality, in the way described for the eye element. And in the way described there [he also defines] the elements of the ear, nose, tongue, and body, as 'ear base, nose base, tongue base, body base'. He defines five states that are their respective objective fields as 'visible-data base, sound base, odour base, flavour base, tangible-data base.' He defines the seven mundane consciousness elements as 'mind base'. He defines the contact, etc., associated therewith, and also the remaining instances of materiality as mental-data base.' So here 10 1/2 bases are materiality and 1 1/2 bases are mentality. This is how one [meditator] defines mentality-materiality by means of the 12 bases.

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[4. Definition Based on the Aggregates]
13.   Another defines it more briefly than that by means of the aggregates? How? Here a bhikkhu defines as 'the materiality aggregate' all the following 27 instances of materiality, that is, the 17 instances of materiality consisting of the four primaries of fourfold origination in this body and dependent colour, odour, flavour, and nutritive-essence, and the five sensitivities beginning with the eye sensitivity, and the materiality of the physical [heart] basis, sex, life faculty, and sound of twofold origination, which 17 instances of materiality are suitable for comprehension since they are produced and are instances of concrete materiality; and then the 10 instances of materiality, that is, bodily intimation, verbal intimation, the space element, and the lightness, malleability, wieldiness, growth, continuity, ageing, and impermanence, of materiality, which 10 instances of materiality are, however, not suitable for comprehension since they are merely the mode-alteration, and the limitation-of-interval; they are not produced and are not concrete materiality, but they are reckoned as materiality because they are mode-alterations, and limitation-of-interval, of various instances of materiality. - So he defines all these 27 instances of materiality as 'the materiality aggregate'. He defines the feeling that arises together with the 81 kinds of mundane consciousness as the 'feeling aggregate', the perception associated therewith as the 'perception aggregate, the formations associated therewith as the formations aggregate', and the consciousness as the 'consciousness aggregate'. - So by defining the materiality aggregate as 'materiality' and the four immaterial aggregates as 'mentality' he defines mentality-materiality by means of the five aggregates.

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[5. Definition Based on the Four Primaries]
14.   Another discerns 'materiality' in his person briefly thus 'Any kind of materiality whatever all consists of the four primary elements and the materiality derived from the four primary elements' (M.i.222), and he likewise discerns the mind base and a part of the mental data base as 'mental'. Then he defines mentality-materialty in brief thus: 'This mentality and this materiality are called "Mentality-materiality"'. {8}

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[If the Immaterial Fails to Become Evident]
15.   [591] But if he has discerned materiality in one of these ways, and while he is trying to discern the immaterial it does not become evident to him owing to its subtlety, then he should not give up but should again and again comprehend, give attention to, discern, and define materiality only. For in proportion as materiality becomes quite definite, disentagled and quite clear to him, so the immaterial states that have that [materiality] as their object become plain of themselves too.
16.   Just as, when a man with eyes looks for the reflexion of his face in a dirty looking-glass and sees no reflexion he does not throw the looking glass away because the reflexion does not appear; on the contrary he polishes it again and again, and then the reflexion becomes plain of itself when the looking glass is clean, - and just as, when a man needing oil puts sesamum flour in a basin and wets it with water and no oil comes out with only one or two pressings he does not throw the sesamum flour away; but on the contrary he wets it again and again with hot water and squeezes and presses it, and as he does so clear sesamum oil comes out, - or just as, when a man wanting to clarify water has taken a katuka nut and put his hand inside the pot and rubbed it once or twice the water does not come clear, he does not throw the katuka nut away; on the contrary he rubs it again and again, and as he does so the fine mud subsides and the water becomes transparent and clear, - so to, the bhikkhu should not give up, but he should again and again comprehend, give attention to, discern and define materiality only.
17.   For in proportion as materiality becomes quite definite, disentangled and quite clear to him, so the defilements that are opposing him subside, his consciousness becomes clear like the water above the [precipitated] mud, and the immaterial states that have that [materiality] as their object become plain of themselves too. And this meaning can also be explained in this way by other analogies such as the [pressing of] sugarcane, [the beating of] criminals [to make them confess], [the taming of] an ox, the churning of curds [to produce butter] and [the cooking of] fish.

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[Three Ways in Which the Immaterial States Become Evident]
18.   When he has quite cleared up his discerning of materiality, then the immaterial states become evident to him through one of three aspects, that is, through contact, through feeling, or through consciousness. How?
19.   1. (a) When he discerns the [four primary] elements in the way beginning 'The earth element has the characteristic of hardness' (Ch.XI,§93), contact becomes evident to him as the first conjunction. Then feeling associated with that as the feeling aggregate, the associated perception as the perception aggregate, the associated volition together with the aforesaid contact as the formations aggregate, and the associated consciousness as the consciousness aggregate.
  1. (b) [592] Likewise [when he has discerned them in this way,] 'In the head hair it is the earth element that has the characteristic of hardness, ... in the in-breaths and out-breaths it is the earth element that has the characteristic of hardness' (Ch.XI,§31), contact becomes evident as the first conjunction. Then the feeling assoicated with it as the feeling aggregate, ... the associated consciousness as the consciousness aggregate.
  This is how immaterial states become evident through contact.
20.   2. (a) To another [who discerns the four primary elements in the way beginning] 'The earth element has the characteristic of hardness' the feeling that has as its object and experiences its stimulus [as pleasant, etc.,] becomes evident as the feeling aggregate, the perception associated with that as the perception aggregate, the contact and the volition asociated with that as the formations aggregate, and the consciousness associated with that as the formations aggregate, and the consciousness associated with that as the consciousness aggregate.
  2. (b) Likewise [to one who discerns them in this way] 'In the head hair it is the earth element that has the characteristic of hardness, ... in the in-breaths and out-breaths it is the earth element that has the characteristic of hardness; the feeling that has that as its object and experiences its stimulus becomes evident as the feeling aggregate, ... and the consciousness associated with that as the consciousness aggregate.
  This is how the immaterial states become evident through feeling.
21.   3. (a) To another [who discerns the four primary elements in the way beginning] 'The earth element has the characteristic of hardness' the consciousness that cognizes the object becomes evident as the consciousness aggregate, the feeling associated with it as the feeling aggregate, the associated perception as the perception aggregate, and the associated contact and volition as the formations aggregate.
  3. (b) Likewise [to one who discerns them in this way] 'In the head hair it is the earth element that has the characteristic of hardness, ... in the in-breaths and out-breaths it is the earth element that has the characteristic of hardness' the consciousness that cognized the object becomes evident as the consciousness aggregate, ... and the associated contact and volition as the formations aggregate.
  This is how the material state become evident through consciousness.
22.   In the case of [the ways of discerning materiality as consisting of] the 42 aspects of the elements beginning with the head hair [that is, 32 aspects of the body, 4 aspects of the fire element and 6 aspects of the air element,] either by these same means given above or by means of the method beginning 'In the kamma-originated head hair it is the earth element that has the characteristic of hardness' - and also in the case of the methods of discerning materiality as consisting of the eye, etc. - by means of the four primary elements in each, the constructing should be done by working out all the differences in each method.
23.   Now it is only when he has become quite sure about discerning materiality in this way that immaterial states become quite evident to him in the three aspects. Therefore he should only undertake the task of discerning the immaterial states after he has completed that, not otherwise. If he leaves off discerning materiality when, say, one or two material states have become evident in order to begin discerning the immaterial, then he falls from his meditation subject like the mountain cow already described under the Development of the Earth Kasina (Ch.IV,§130). [593] But if he undertakes the task of discerning the immaterial after he is already quite sure about discerning materiality thus, then his meditation subject comes to growth, increase and perfection.

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[There is no Being Apart from Mere Mentality-Materiality]
24.   He defines the four immaterial aggregates that have thus become evident through contact, etc., as 'mentality'. And he defines their objects, namely, the four primaries and the materiality derived from the four primaries, as 'materiality'. So, as one who opens a box with a knife, as one who splits a twin palmyra bulb in two, he defines all states of the three planes {9} , the eighteen elements, twelve bases, five aggregates, in the double way as 'mentality-materiality', and he concludes that over and above mere mentality-materiality there is nothing else that is a being or a person or a deity or a Brahma.
25.   After defining mentality-materiality thus according to its true nature, then in order to abandon this wordly designation of 'a being' and 'a person' more thoroughly, to surmount confusion about beings and to establish his mind on the plane of non-confusion, he makes sure that the meaning defined, namely, 'This is mere mentality-materiality, there is no being, no person' is confirmed by a number of Suttas. For this has been said:
            As with the assembly of parts
            The word "chariot" is countenanced,
            So, when the aggregates are present,
            "A being" is said in common usage' (S.i,135).
26.   Again, this has been said: 'Just as when a space is enclosed with timber and creeper and grass and clay, there comes to be the term "house", so too, when a space is enclosed with bones and sinews and flesh and skin, there comes to be the term "material form (rupa)" (M.i,190).
27.   And again this has been said:
            It is ill alone that rises,
            Ill that remains, ill that departs,
            Nothing rises else than ill
            And nothing ceases else than ill (S.i,135).
28.   So in many hundred suttas it is only the mentality-materiality that is illustrated, not a being, not a person. Therefore, just as when the component parts such as axles, wheels, frame poles, etc., are arranged in a certain way, there comes to be the mere term of common usage 'chariot', yet in the ultimate sense when each part is examined, there is no chariot, - and just as when the component parts of a house such as wattles, etc., are placed so that they enclose a space in a certain way, there comes to be the mere term of common usage 'house', yet in the ultimate sense there is no house, and just as when the fingers, thumb, etc., are placed in a certain way, there comes to be the mere term of common usage [594] 'fist', - with body and strings, 'lute'; with elephants, horses, etc., 'army'; with surrounding walls, houses, states, etc., 'city'; - just as when trunk, branches, foliage, etc., are placed in a certain way, there comes to be the mere term of common usage 'tree', yet in the ultimate sense, when each component is examined, there is no tree, - so to, when there are the five aggregates [as objects] of clinging, there comes to be the mere term of common usage 'a being', 'a person', yet in the ultimate sense, when each component is examined, there is no being as a basis for the assumption 'I am' or 'I'; in the ultimate sense there is only mentality-materiality. The vision of one who sees in this way is called correct vision.
29.   But when a man rejects this correct vision and assumes that a [permanent] being exists, he has to conclude either that is comes to be annihilated or that it does not. If he concludes that it does not come to be annihilated, he falls into the eternity [view]. If he concludes that it does come to be annihilated, he falls into the annihilation [view]. Why? Because [the assumption] precludes any gradual change like that of milk into curd. So he either holds back, concluding that the assumed being is eternal, or he overreaches, concluding that is comes to be annihilated.
30.   Hence the Blessed One said 'There are two kinds of view, bhikkhus, and when deities and human beings are obsessed by them, some hold back and some overreach; only those with eyes see. And how do some hold back? Dieties and human beings love becoming, delight in becoming, rejoice in becoming. When Dhamma is taught to them for the ceasing of becoming, their minds do not enter into it, become settled, steady and resolute. Thus it is that some hold back. And how do some overreach? Some are ashamed, humiliated and disgusted by that same becoming, they are concerned with non-becoming in this way: "Sirs, when with the break up of the body this self is cut off, annihilated, does not become any more after death, that is peaceful, that is sublime, that is true". Thus it is that some overreach. And how do those with eyes see? Here a bhikkhu sees what is become as become. Having seen what is become as become, he has entered upon the way to dispassion for it, to the fading away of greed for it, to its cessation. This is how one with eyes sees.' (Iti.43; Ps.i,159).
31.   Therefore, just as a marionette is void, soulless and without curiosity, and while it walks and stands merely through the combination of strings and wood, [595] yet it seems as if it had curiousity and interestedness, so too, this mentality-materiality is void, soulless and without curiosity, and while it walks and stands merely through the combination of the two together, yet it seems as if it had curiousity and interestedness. This is how it should be regarded. Hence the Ancients said:
            The mental and material are really here,
            But here there is no human being to be found,
            For it is void and merely fashioned like a doll -
            Just suffering piled up like grass and sticks.

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[Interdependence of Mentality and Materiality]
32.   And this should be explained not only by means of the simile of the marionette, but also by means of the analogies of the sheaves of reeds and so on. For just as when two sheaves of reeds are propped one against the other, each one gives the other consolidating support, and when one falls the other falls, so too, in the five-constituent becoming mentality-materiality occurs as an interdependent state, each of its components giving the other consolidating support, and when one falls owing to death, the other falls too. Hence the Ancients said:
            The mental and material
            Are twins and each supports the other;
            When one breaks up they both break up
            Through interconditionality.
33.   And just as when sound occurs having as its support a drum that is beaten by a stick, then the drum is one and the sound another, the drum and the sound are not mixed up together, the drum is void of the sound and the sound is void of the drum, so too, when mentality occurs having as its support the materiality called the physical basis, the door and the object, then the materiality is one and the mentality is another, the mentality and the materiality are not mixed up together, the mentality is void of the materiality and the materiality is void of the mentality; yet the mentality occurs due to the materiality as the sound occurs due to the drum. Hence the Ancients said:
            The pentad based on contact comes not from the eye,
            Or from things seen, or something that is in between;
            Due to a cause it comes to be, and formed as well,
            Just as the sound that issues from a beaten drum.
            The pentad based on contact comes not from the ear,
            Or yet from sound, or something that is in between;
            Due to a cause ...
            The pentad based on contact comes not from the nose
            Or yet from smells, or something that is in between;
            Due to a cause ...
            The pentad based on contact comes not from the tongue,
            Or yet from tastes, or something that is in between;
            [596] Due to a cause ...
            The pentad based on contact comes not from the body,
            Or yet from touch, or something that is in between;
            Due to a cause ...
            Being formed, it does not come from the material basis,
            Nor does it issue from the mental-datum base;
            Due to a cause it comes to be, and formed as well,
            Just as the sound that issues from a beaten drum.
34.   Furthermore, mentality has no efficient power, it cannot occur by its own efficient power ... It does not eat, it does not drink, it does not speak, it does not adopt postures. And materiality is without efficient power; it cannot occur by its own efficient power. For it has no desire to eat, it has no desire to drink, it has no desire to speak, it has no desire to adopt postures. But rather it is when supported by materiality that mentality occurs. When mentality has the desire to eat, the desire to drink, the desire to speak, the desire to adopt a posture, it is materiality that eats, drinks, speaks and adopts a posture.
35.   But for the purpose of explaining this meaning they gave this simile as an example: a man born blind and a stool-crawling cripple wanted to go somewhere. The blind man said to the cripple, 'Look, I can do what should be done by legs, but I have no eyes with which to see what is rough and smooth'. The cripple said 'Look, I can do what should be done by eyes, but I have no legs with which to go and come'. The blind man was delighted, and he made the cripple climb up on his shoulder. Sitting on the blind man's shoulder the cripple spoke thus 'Leave the left, take the right; leave the right, take the left.'
  Herein, the blind man has no efficient power; he is impotent; he cannot travel by his own efficient power, by his own strength. And the cripple has no efficient power; he is impotent; he cannot travel by his own efficient power, by his own strength. But there is nothing to prevent their going when they support each other. So too, mentality has no efficient power; it does not arise or occur in such and such functions by its own efficient power. And materiality has no efficient power, it does not arise or occur in such and such functions by its own efficient power. But there is nothing to prevent their occurrence when they support each other.
36.   Hence, this is said:
            They cannot come to be by their own strength,
            Or yet maintain themselves by their own strength;
            Relying for support on other states,
            Weak in themselves, and formed, they come to be;
            [597] They come to be with others as condition.
            They are aroused by others as their objects,
            They are produced by object and condition,
            And each by something other than itself.
                And just as men depend upon
                A boat for traversing the sea,
                So does the mental body need
                The matter-body for occurrence.
                And as the boat depends upon
                The men for traversing the sea,
                So does the matter-body need
                The mental body for occurence.
                Depending each upon the other
                The boat and men go on the sea.
                And so do mind and matter both
                Depend the one upon the other.
37.   The correct vision of mentality and materiality, which, after defining mentality-materiality by these various methods, has been established on the plane of non-confusion by overcoming the perception of a being, is what should be understood as Purification of View. Other terms for it are 'Defining of Mentality-materiality' and 'Delimitation of Formations.'

The eighteenth chapter called 'The Description
of Purification of View' in the treatise on
the development of understanding in the Path
of Purification composed for the purpose of
gladdening good people.
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[Footnotes]
{1}   Mentality should be taken here as the four aggregates beginning with feeling and belonging to the three planes, not omitting consciousness as in the case of "With consciousness as condition, mentality-materiality" and not including the supramundane aggregates associated with nibbana' (Pm.744 Burmese ed.).

{2}   Serenity (samatha) is a general term for concentration, as the complement of insight (vipassana), which is roughly the equivalent of understanding (panna).

{3}   'One who is beginning this work has difficulty in discerning the highest form of becoming, that is, the base consisting of neither perception nor non-perception' (Pm.744). This is owing to the diminished perception (see M.iii,28).

{4}   See S.ii,23-4. 'Bending in the direction of the object means that there is no occurence without an object; it is in the sense of that sort of bending, or it is in the sense of bestowing a name (nama-karana) (Pm.744). 'Name-and-form' has many advantages over 'mentality-materiality' if only because it preserves the integrity of nama and excludes any metaphysical assumption of matter existing as a substance behind apparent forms.

{5}   'Because sweat, etc., arise owing to heat, fatigue etc., and owing to mental perturbation they are called "originated by temperature and by consciousness"'(Pm.745).
  There are seven kinds of decads: those of the physical basis of mind (heart), sex, living physical eye, ear, nose, tongue, and body. The first nine components of a decad are the same in all instances, and by themselves they are called the 'life ennead'. The first eight components by themselves are called the 'octad-with-nutritive-essence-as-eighth'. This octad plus sound is called the 'sound ennead'. In general these are called 'material groups (rupa kalapa)'. But this kind of 'group (kalapa)' has nothing to do with the 'comprehension by groups (kalapa-sammasana)' of Ch.XX, which is simply generalization (from one's own particular experience to each of the five aggregates as past, etc., i.e. as a 'group'). The 'material groups' are not in the Pitakas.

{6}   The ten are four aspect of the fire element and six aspects of the air element; what heats, what consumes, what burns up, what digests; up-going winds (or forces), down-going winds, winds in the stomach, winds in bowels, winds in the limbs, breaths. See Ch.XI,§37 and 82.

{7}   'The exalted consciousness of the fine-material and immaterial spheres is only quite plain to one who has attained the attainments' (Pm.746).

{8}   'As well as by means of the elements, etc., materiality can also be discerned through the faculties, the truths, and the dependent origination. How?
  'Firstly, through the faculties; These seven, namely the five beginning with the eye plus femininity and masculinity are materiality; the eleven consisting of the mind-faculty, the five feeling faculties, and the five beginning with faith, are mentality: the life faculty is both mentality and materiality. The last three, being supramundane, are not intended here.
  'The truth of suffering is both mentality and materiality; the truth of origin is mentality; the other two are not intended here because they are supramundane.
  'In the Stucture of Conditions, the first three members are mentality; the fourth and fifth are mentality and materiality; the sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth are mentality; the tenth is both mentality and materiality; the last two are each mentality and materiality' (Pm.747-8).

{9}   '"All states of the three planes" is said all-inclusively owing to the necessity not to omit anything suitable for comprehension. For it must be fully understood without any exception, and greed must be made to fade away absolutely so that the mind may be liberated by the fading away of greed. That is why the Blessed One said "Bhikkhus, without directly knowing, without fully understanding all, without causing the fading away of greed for it without abandoning it, the mind is incapable of the destruction of suffering" (S.iv,17). If all the states of the three planes are taken as mentality-materiality without exception then how should one deal with what has been conceived by those outside the Dispensation as verbal meanings, such as the Primordial Essence (pakati), etc. [e.g. of the Samkhya], the Substance (drabya), etc. [e.g. of the Vaisesika], the soul (jiva), etc., and the Body (kaya), etc. [    ]? Since these are like the hallucination of lunatics and are taught by the not fully enlightened, what other way of dealing with them is there than to ignore them? Or alternatively, their existence or non-existence can be understood as established by their inclusion within mentality-materiality' (Pm.751-2). There follows a long paragraph showing 'Wherever the verbal meaning of self is expressed by some such metaphor as world-soul (purisa), self (atta, atman), soul (jiva), etc., these being themselves conceived in their various ways on the basis of mere mentality-materiality, are mere mentality-materiality, too' (Pm.754-5).

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20 November 2003