ME 35 Theravāda Tradition: A Historical and Doctrinal Study

     Lesson - 10.3.11                            By. Ashin Indaka (Kyone Pyaw)                                                                                     

           The Theravāda Tradition accepted teachings at the First Buddhist Council. Pāli commentaries are very important sources for stud of Early Buddhism and for study of the brief history of Pāli commentaries. The Pāli commentaries are the commentaries on the Pāli Tripitaka, it contains many aspects of the Buddha's teachings. 

         Theravāda Buddhism has a long history covering almost 2,500 years from the time of the Buddha up to now. Therefore, you must specify which Buddhism you are dealing with, if you are studying Theravāda Buddhism; Buddhism in Tripiṭaka or in the Pāli commentaries, in Tikā or Anu-Tikā. As we know out of 84,000 texts in the Tripiṭaka. The last point, regarding the value of using the Pāli commentaries as the research material for the study of Theravāda Buddhism, the Pāli commentaries are not well organized in the Theravāda countries, these were translated by Buddhagosa in fifth century A.D. Before Mahinda Thera came to Sri lankā, the commentaries had been preserved in India. So the beginning of commentarial tradition in Sri Lanka can go back to the time of Mahinda in the third century B.C. 

             The Sutta nipāta of the Mahāvagga, that has twenty two Gāthās while the commentary says that it contains only twenty gāthās. So most probably those two gāthās were added later, that is Philological studies. Philology is the study of text; in this case, the study of the Pāli text; how it is developed. This philological approach to the Buddhist text is to examine the Pāli texts in a critical method. If you compare the Pāli Sutta- piṭaka with the Pāli commentaries have very long compounds which are not found in the Sutta piṭaka. The Pāli canon it-self we find some facts which seen sometimes contradictory with the details given above. 

            The Jātakapāli, one of the fifteen texts of the khuddhakanikāya, explains the former livers or births (Introductions of the Buddha Biography) of the Buddha, and the Niddesa is, one of the Kuddhakanikāya. According to Sri Lanka tradition, when we consider the Kuddhakanikāya, it contains
fifteen books. 

          Khuddhakapātha Atthakathā and Suttanipāta Atthakathā have a common name, is called Paramathajotikā, and their authorship is traditionally attributed to Buddhaghosa. Visuddhimagga cannot be commentary, it is an independent work of buddhaghosa. Samantapāsādika is a regarding text of the Vinaya Atthakathā, we don't know which of them was written first, and Sumangalavilāsinī is one of the Dighanikāya Atthakathā. 

         The Buddhaghosa wrote seven Abhidhamma commentaries such as Atthasālinī (Dhamma-saṅganīatthakathā), Sammohavinodani (Vibhaṅga-atthakathā), and Pañcappakaranatthakathā, but other Atthakathā of the remaining five texts. So Abhidhamma is Theravāda production in methology.

           Necessity of Aṭṭhakathās for the interpretation of Tipiṭaka. e.g. Theragāthā and Therīgāthā- the dialogues have been identified separately only in the commentary. Jatakapalishort incidents recorded here are expanded as full stories only in the commentary. Niddesapali is a commentary on Suttanipata…. And, Necessity of Abhidhamma for the interpretation of Suttas. Suttas (discourse) in the Suttapiṭka have been delivered by the Buddha for various people on different occasions on various conditions. 

        So……, After the introduction of the systematic philosophy of Abhidhamma the suttas were interpreted following the method of Abhidhamma.{ from the hand-out} 

               e.g. Mano pubbaṅgamā dhammā 

                      Mano - citta 

                      Dhammā – cetasika 

           Theravāda Buddhism has long history covering almost 2,500 years from the time of the Buddha up to now. According to the Thearvāda Tradition, the Theravāda tradition as accepted teaching at the First Buddhist Council, the ten points presented by Vajjians were main reason for the Second  Buddhist Council. So the beginning of commentarial tradition in Sri Lanka can go back to the time of Mahinda that is the third century B.C. We need more people to be involved in the study of the Pāli commentaries. 

           The collection of Buddha teaching was done at the Buddhist council. Therefore, the Theras considered that if the Buddha's teachings are available in common people language. They were preserved as Dhamma-sutras, because those discourses were included only the Dhamma. Now, we should be study Mangala sutta, the Mangala sutta is found in the suttanipāta. The suttanipāta contains the three most poular Paritta Sutta; Metta, Mangala and Ratana Sutta. The commentary explains that, at that time in India. The Buddha replied with a graduated discourse in verse, enumerating thirty eight practical blessing. These seven stages of purity must be followed;
            1. Four defiled action.
            2. Four avenues to wrong path.
            3. Six causes for the decline of wealth.
            4. Four good friends.
            5. Four bad friends.
            6. Method of earning and expend it.
            7. Doing duties.

         The Mangala Sutta teaches us how we can ascend to the highest good in gradual Buddhism. Mettā is only meditation. Metta meditation is regularly recommended to the Buddha's followers, in the 2,500 years old Pāli camon. The mettā always will the beings not to fall to hell and apāya bhūmis, but to forward the human, divine or brahma worlds and heartily wish them able to reach the Nibbāna, the sooner the better at the end. 

        Do keep observance of moral precepts (sīla), do practice good deeds bodily, verbally and mentally as possible as it can go like mettā brahmavihāra (samādhi), do forge a dhamma career in search of insight wisdom and knowledge of truths, realities as well as worldliness (pañña). These are meaningful words of wisdom. To avoid all evils (to drill sīla), to cultivate good (to practice samādhi), and to cleanse one's mind (to forge Paññā), this is the teaching of the Buddhas. 

          It is the frame of reference by all Buddhas to recommend the holy living of brahmavihara (metta, karunā and muditā) with Mettā meditation.

         Lesson - 17.3.11                                     By. Ashin Indaka (Kyone Pyaw)

         “Necessity of Aṭṭhakathās for the interpretation of Tipiṭaka.” E .g – (i) Theragāthā and Therigāthā - The dialogues have been identified separately only in the commentary, (ii)Jātakapāli - Short incidents recorded here are expanded as full stories only in the commentary, (iii) Niddesapāli is a commentary on Suttanipata, and (iv) Kathāvatthuppakaraṇa- The points of controversy have been identified separately only in the commentary. 

              As we know, out of 84,000 texts in the Theravada Tripiṭaka, two thousand texts are presented as the Buddha’s teachings by his disciples we have to examine again and again which parts belong to the Buddha’s own teachings and which parts belong to the commentaries--- . Buy the way, the first reference to this term Pāli is found in the Pāli commentaries which are translated from Sihala Aṭṭhakathā. So the earliest time of using the term Pāli can go back to the third century B.C., even Abhidhamma was regarded as Pāli during time of Buddhaghosa, fifth century A.D., The Pāli commentaries were translated by Buddhaghosa by the fifth century A.D. If you compare Pāli Sutta-piṭaka with the Pāli commentaries. 

            Explore the ancient language of the Tipiṭaka and Theravada in commentaries, can anyone help explaining way these words are found at the beginning of some suttas and note others? that those suttas were remembered by Venerable Ᾱnandā at the First Buddhist Council. It was sort of ‘thing’. Evam me sutam (Thus, have I heard). These words are invariably followed by Ekam samayam = at one time or on one occasion. Ven- Ᾱnanda’s thing for remembering the teachings, keeping the tradition oral until the Tipiṭaka was written down. I found this partied: Some pertinent parts: almost all suttas in the Pāli Canon open with the words Evam.
Evam the 8th condition may imply,

     1. Evam = Upamā
     2.            = Upadesa
     3.            = Sampahamsaṇa (happiness)
     4.            = Garahana (blane someone)
     5.            = Vacanasanpatigga (yes, expect)
     6.            = Ᾱkara (actually)
     7.            = Vidassana (example)
     8.            = Avadhārana
                    These eight meanings are different contact. Evam is similes, like that …..
     1. Evam jātena waccena kattabbam kūsalam bahum.
     2. Evam te abhikamitabbam. Evam patikkamitabbam.
     3. Evam etam sūgata (thus, this, the happy one)
     4. Evam paññayam vasali
     5. Evam bhante (Yes, Venerable Sir,)
     6. Evam bhante
     7. Evam bhante
     8. Evam etam darayāmi,
         These words mean;
      -“I have understood this way” Ᾱnanda said
      - It is except, That is, Buddha taught (It is certainly not impossible)
      -“Evam me sutam” means thus have I heard
      - Sure, expertly, I have heard
      - That is teaching
      - I have in mind
      - I thought so

               In fact these words “Thus have I heard” are so well known as an introduction to Pāli suttas. (This was said by the Exalted One, said by the Arahant so have I heard, this formula is followed by the direct words of the Buddha with no mention of “on one occasion”.) The words are there to indicate that the sutta was recited initially at the first council by Ᾱnanda. If it doesn’t say Evam me sutam it wasn’t credited to Ᾱnanda rather someone else, who may be un-named, or named as in the case of Venerable Upāli who uses “ ‘Tena samyena’, it is certainly not impossible.”

              So, the word is 8th condition to become the Buddha’s attendant, by which he has heard all the suttas uttered by the Buddha for the remaining time of his life. If you give a brief outline of which texts have “Evam me sutam” at the start, that may give you a clue. The issue of how Ᾱnanda heard these is also there:

        1. Ᾱnanda recites at the convocation, saying “thus it a way heard by me”, and meaning that he heard it when the Buddha said that teaching.

      2. Ᾱnanda recites at the convocation, saying “thus it a way heard by me”, and meaning that somebody told him that the Buddh gave such a teaching. 

          As it’s said by Ven- Ᾱnanda the first Buddhist council, in Sanskrit ‘Evam Me Sutam = Evam Maya Shratum’ - you can see it in some Mahāyāna sutras begins like that. Therefore, according to the Commentarial Theravada Tradition, the Brahmajāla sutta, “Evam me sutam” means ‘thus have I heard’. This particular sutra was also preached at the first Buddhist council.

          Lesson - 24.3.11                                     By. Ashin Indaka (Kyone Pyaw)

          The Evolution of Abhidhamma, at the time of the first and the second councils, Abhidhamma was not developed as a separate section of the Pāli canon. The term Abhidhamma occurs in the Suttapiṭaka but not in the sense of a separate piṭaka. Tradition says that Abhidhamma Piṭaka was preached to the deities after Enlightenment by the Buddha himself. Tradition also says that Kathāvatthu-pakaraṇa, the last text of the Abhidhammapiṭaka was arranged on the basic doctrines of the Buddha by Ven. Moggaliputtatissa Thera at the time of the Third Buddhist Councils in the 3rd century B.C.

           Four main processes have been carried out at the Councils in order to preserve the Buddha’s teachings: Collection of the teachings, classification of the teaching, abstraction of the doctrinal parts from the teachings and definition and analysis of the doctrines. Through the above processes the Abhidhamma canon came into being. 

           Abhidharma (Sanskrit) or Abhidhamma (Pāli) are ancient Buddhist texts which contain detailed scholastic reworking of doctrinal material appearing in the Mahāyāna Sutras (Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra). The Sūtra is set in Laṅkā, the Island fortress capital of Rāvaṇa, the king of rākṣasas. The Abhidhamma works do not contain systematic philosophical treatises, but summaries or abstract and systematic lists. There is a similarity between the traditions of the Adhidhamma and that of the Mahāyāna , which also claimed to be too difficult for the people living in the Buddha's time. They were not accepted as canonical by the Mahāsanghika school. 

            Numerous apparently independent and unrelated Abhidharma traditions arose in India, roughly during the period from the 2nd or 3rd Century B.C., to the 5th Century, in the Linguistic history of India. The Buddha taught in Magadha, but the four most important places in his life are all outside of it. It is likely that he taught in several closely related dialects of Middle Indo-Aryan, which had a very high degree of mutual intelligibility. There is no attested dialect of Middle Indo-Aryan with all the features of Pāli. 

            Three kinds of Indo-Aryan; they are - Old Indo-Aryan: The earliest evidence of the group is from Vedic Sanskrit, the language used in the ancient preserved texts of the Indian subcontinent, the foundational canon of Hinduism known as the Vedas. In about the 4th century BC, the Sanskrit language was codified and standardized by the grammarian Panini, called "Classical Sanskrit" by convention. 

            Middle Indo-Aryan: Outside the learned sphere of Sanskrit, vernacular dialects continued to evolve. The oldest attested prakrits (i.e., middle Indic languages) are the Buddhist and Jain canonical languages Pāli and Ardha Māgadhi, respectively. The prakrits had diversified into various Middle Indic dialects. "Apabhramsa" is the conventional cover term for transitional dialects connecting late Middle Indic with early Modern Indic, spanning roughly the 6th to 13th centuries. 

         And New Indo-Aryan: The Indic languages of Northern India and Pakistan form a dialect continuum. The Indo-Aryan prakrits also gave rise to languages like Gujarati, Bengali, Oriya, Nepali, Marathi, and Punjabi, which are not considered to be Hindi despite being part of the same dialect continuum. Which is in danger of losing its labial and velar articulations through spirantization in many positions: Hindi, Punjabi, Dogri, Sindhi, Gujarati, Bihari, Maithili, Sinhalese, Oriya, Standard Bengali, dialects of Rajasthani. There are no known historical documents about the early phases of the Romani language could not have left India significantly earlier than 1000 A.D.

               The Arañña-vibhanga Sutta of the Majjimanikāya discourse is an exhortation on the practice of the Middle Path; ‘You should not cling to a regional language; you should not reject common usage.’ So it is said. In what connection is this said? How, bhikkhus, is there clinging to a regional language and rejection of common usage? Here, Bhikkhus, in different regions, they call a ‘bowl’ pāti, ‘pāli’, patta, vittha, serāva, dhāropa, poṇa or pisīla. The word Pāli itself signifies "line" or "(canonical) text", in the sense of the line of original text quoted. This name for the language seems to have its origins in commentarial traditions. 

             “Ye keci buddham saranam gatāse na te gamissanti apāya-bhumim pahāya manusam deham deva- kāyam paripuressantiti”  That mean "Those who have gone to the Buddha as refuge will not go to the realms of deprivation. On abandoning the human body, they will fill the ranks of the gods." 

              “Idha Buddhe jate, Lumbini game ubbalike kate, Idha Buddho jato, Lumbini gamo ubbaliko kato” it is Pāli terms. This name for the language seems to have its origins in commentarial traditions, Pāli is a literary language of the Prakrit language family. When the canonical texts were written down in Sri Lanka, in the 1st century BC.

         The parinibbāna of the Buddha is described in the Mahāparinibbāna sutta, Digha Nikāya. Because of its attention to detail, the Mahaparinibbāna Sutta (of the Theravada tradition), though first committed to writing hundreds of years after his death, has been resorted to as the principal source of reference in most standard studies of the Buddha's life. Accounts of the purported events surrounding the Buddha's own parinirvāṇa are found in a wide range of Buddhist canonical literature. In addition to the Pāli Mahāparinibbāna sutta and its Sanskrit parallels in the Dighanikāya, Subha Sutta is almost word for word the same as the Sāmañña-phala Sutta. The chief difference is that the states of mind enumerated in the Sàmañña-phala as fruits of the life of a recluse are here divided under the three heads of sīla, samàdhi, and paññà (conduct, concentration, and intelligence). Samàdhi has not yet been found in any Indian book older than the Piñakas. 

             Samādhi on the other hand is a constant habit of mind, the oldest Sanskrit text. In this sutta, it is the first importance the evolution of philosophical and religious thought in India. . The Buddhist canon was originally, as is well known, altogether oral.

          Lesson - 31.3.11                                     By. Ashin Indaka (Kyone Pyaw)

          The Buddha's teaching is a "doctrine of analysis" (Vibhajjavāda). His analysis examines the given world of sense experience, and in so doing sees that entities which appear solid and lasting break up into a series of shifting experiences. The word Vibhajjavāda may be parsed into Vibhajja, loosely meaning "dividing", "analyzing" and Vāda holding the semantic field: "doctrine", "teachings".

         The analysis of phenomena (dharmas) was the doctrinal emphasis and preoccupation of the Vibhajjavādins. 

        1.Vibhajjavādi mandalam otāretvā,

        2.Cattāro mahāpadesa olokentena

      (ekamsañyā karana, vibhajja karana, patipucca karana and thapaniya karana), 

        3.Ᾱcariya anabbhā eikkhantena (Sri Lanka), 

        4.Dhammam dīpantena (clearing the Dharma),

        5.Attham sangahan tena. 

            There are, Maṅgala Sutta is so very popular because of the wide range of its teaching within a few easily remembered verses. Which is characteristic of the ‘Dharma’ as a whole. The Maṅgala Sutta is text for the wholesome shaping of complex human civilization. In this work an attempt is made to offer some studies of this important discourse of the Buddha, for the material and spiritual well-being of individuals in a democratic society. The discourse provides lessons of direct practical application.

        Once while the Buddha was staying in the vicinity of Sāvatthī, in the Jetavana, in Anātha-piṇḍika’s monastery, a certain god, whose surpassing brilliance and beauty illumined the entire Jetavana, late one night came to the presence of the Buddha; having come to him and offered profound salutations he stood on one side and spoke to him reverently the verse. Here, we want to explain some verse: they are- 

          “Asevanā ca bālānaṃ, paṇḍitānan ca sevanā, pūjā ca pūjanīyānaṃ,” With fools no company keeping, with the wise ever consorting, To the worthy homage paying.

           “Mātā-pitu upaṭṭhānaṃ, puttadārassa saṅgaho, anākulā ca kammantā,” Mother and father well supporting, children and wife duty cherishing, types of work un-conflicting.

             “Ñātakānan ca saṅgaho,” Relatives and kin supporting.

          “Tapo ca brahmacariyan ca, ariyasaccāna dassanaṃ, nibbānasacchikiriyā ca, etam maṅgalam-uttamaṃ.” Self-restraint and holy life, All the Noble Truths inseeing, Realisation of Nibbāna: This, the Highest Blessing.

          6. Tamevattam punarāvattetva, Opachip pariyayehi niddisau tena, 

          7.Vinayam anulomen tena, 

          8. Stuttam appatibahentena .
         Buddhaghosa, the great fifth century commentator, casts light on this question in a playful linguistic analysis found early in the Paññabhūminiddesa of his Visuddhimagga. The Visuddhimagga is investigation, mindfulness, and wisdom. This further shows the supremacy of completing an analysis and attaining wisdom in the Buddha’s religion and a rejection of blind faith.

              The Vibhajjavādins are not recorded uniformly by early Buddhist traditions as being a distinct sect. The Theravādin Kathāvatthu does not contain any reference to a Vibhajjavāda school, but the Sammatīyas and the Mahāsāṃghika do mention the Vibhajjavādins. According to the Sammatīya sect, the Vibhajjavādins developed from the Sarvāstivāda school. The Sarvāstivādin Abhidharma Mahāvibhāṣa Śāstra describes the Vibhajjavādins. The Theravādins of Sri Lanka may have been Sthavira-Vibhajjavādins. 

              The First Buddhist council was convened in the three months after the Buddha's Parinibbāna, which is 543–542 BC, according to Theravada tradition, sponsored by King Ajātasatthu outside the Sattaparnaguha in Rājagaha. Detailed accounts of the council can be found in the Khandhaka sections of the canonical Vinayas, under the leadership of Ven. Mahakassapa to call this meeting was his hearing a disparaging remark about the strict rule of life for monks. 

              The passing of the Buddha, Subhaddā spoke up to show happiness and relief that Buddha was
gone. With the Elder Mahākassapa presiding, the five hundred Arahant monks met in council during the rainy season. This historic first council came to be known as the Pancasatika. It took the monks seven months to recite the whole of Vinaya and Dhamma. 

             The Second Buddhist council took place approximately one hundred years after the Buddha's parinirvāṇa. It occurred in Vaiśālī, and was held over ten points which amounted to minor infringements of the Bukkhu and Bukkhuni Vinaya, such as handling money and eating after midday. This Council made the unanimous decision not to relax any of the rules, and censured the behavior of the monks who were accused of violating the ten points. The first schism which divided the early Buddhist Sanghā into two primitive schools the Theravada school ‘11’and the Mahāsanghika school ‘7’. Some sub-divisions of Sthavira school which termed as the followers of Vibhajjavāda. Those not included in the Vibhajjavāda group were the Mahāsāṃghikas. Dipavamsa, Mahavamsa, Samantapasadika are from Southern Vibhajjavada lineage.
           The Third Buddhist Council, was crowned in the two hundred and eighteenth year after the Buddha's death an event dated by modern scholars to 246 BC, under the leadership of Moggaliputta Tissa emphasized this analytical approach, in order to refute a number of heresies and ensure the Dhamma was kept pure, compiled a book during the council called the Kathavatthu. This book is the fifth of the seven books of the Abhidhamma Pitaka.

       According to Sinhalese tradition, Buddhism under the name of Vibhajjavāda, was brought from India to Sri Lanka by Venerable Mahinda, who is believed to be the King Asoka, he changed, when he met the pious novice Nigrodha who preached him the Appamada-vagga. There-after he ceased supporting other religious groups and his interest in and devotion to the Dhamma deepened. His son Mahinda and his daughter Sanghamitta were ordained and admitted to the Sangha.

          The Theory of impermanence or The Theory  of moments (kṣaṇavāda)

 

          The theory of impermanence in Buddhism has been generally misunderstood because it came to be confused with a later theory known as the “doctrine of moments” (kṣaṇavāda), which was formulated from a logical analysis of the process of change by the later Buddhist scholars belonging to the scholastic (abhidhamma) tradition. But such a theory is conspicuous by its absence in the early discourses.

Some further observations on the ‘doctrine of moments’ by Kalupahana: the Sautrāntikas have accepted certain doctrines that are not found there, but which may be considered later developments. These are the doctrines of moments (kṣaṇavāda) and atomism (paramānuvāda), which are found in all the scholastic schools of Buddhism - post-Buddhaghosa Theravāda, Sarvāstivāda, and Sautrāntika.

The Mahāyānists were bothered by the substantialist thought of the Sarvāstivādins and Sautrāntikas, and in emphasizing the doctrine of emptiness. The Theravādins too refuted the Sarvastivādins and Sautrāntikas on the grounds that their theories were in conflict with the non-substantialism of the canon. 

The Buddhist doctrine of impermanence does really amount to a theory of momentariness, in the sense that everything is in a state of constant flux. This becomes clear from a passage in the Anguttranikāya, where the three sankhāta lakkaṇas. Here it is compound has three fundamental characteristics, namely Uppāda-paññayati, Vaya-paññayati, and Thitassa-aññathatta. This should not be understood in the ordinary sense that something arises, exists for some time in a more or less static form, and dissolves. 

Thought moments have the following three stages: The genetic (uppāda), the static (thiti), the dissolution (bhavaṅga). These three stages also occur within, the shortest possible time. A thought-moment does not persist by itself but runs most rapidly from the first to the second Stage and from the second to the third. The Sautrantika School is called sthiti (subsistence), jāti (origin) and vyaya (cessation).

‘Anicca vata sankhārā uppādavayadhammino’ According to this statement, things are impermanent because they are momentary, but they are characterized by arising (uppāda) and passing away (vaya). 

According to Buddhism, there are two means of knowledge, namely direct perception and indirect perception. Through these two ways we get knowledge. The sautrāntika only accept the indirect perception. Therefore, whatever we get knowledge, it is indirect perception. Sautrāntika belongs to Idealism. Sārvastivādins also accept the theory of existing and the theory of direct perception. 

Theravāda accepted direct and indirect perception thus they also have to accept the moment of existence (thiti). Theravāda interpreted thiti as the existence thiti and jarata, i.e., two as one moment. When the thing is existing, this moment can be interpreted as navabhava. When the moment is existing, there are two phases: destruction and new stage. 

In the Abhidhamma-ciṭavithi, thing exists in one moment, but the process of perception is in several moment. According to the theory of moment, they exist only in one moment in this case they have to explain it.                                                                            18.10.11

                                                                                                                       

Hadaya-vatthu (Heart as physical base)

In the Abhidhamma, heart basis was introduced as the physical basis for mind, mental objects and mind consciousness.

Then the logical basis is that, if every other consciousness has a material basis E.g. eye and forms then eye consciousness. Then eye consciousness arises in relation to the two material objects – eye and form; then ear consciousness – ear and sound. Like that, each and every consciousness has a material basis. But in the sixth sense, it has no material basis. According to the teaching of Dependent Origination, every consciousness should be related to a material thing. That is the argument. Therefore mind, mental objects and mind consciousness also should have a material basis. That material basis is called heart basis ‘Hadaya-vatthu’.

There hadaya-vatthu is a kind of material which is the place of origin for the viññanas which are not among the consciousness of eye, ear, nose, tongue and skin (pañca-viññanas) since these have the sensory surfaces of material (pasāda-rūpa) as their place of origin. The hadaya-vatthu is different from the mind-door (consciousness).

According to the Buddhism, there are three kinds of realities: Nāma, Rūpa, Viññāṇa. An important link with the viewpoint is the statement on account of the flickering of the consciousness the mind with the body arises (Viññanapacayā-Nāmarūpan). The world of concept is the mind essentially. On account of the occurrence of the mind the rebirth is produced.

The five senses: eye, ear, nose, tongue and skin, then four objects: forms, sounds, smell and taste. Now touch is not included because it represents three of the four great elements, except cohesion. Then element of sex that means two things male and female, then heart basis is taken as one and life force one.  This is the material life force because there is another life force ‘mental and nutrition’. These eighteen are called real material elements. These are real in the sense that they are real material elements produced by causes and conditions. The other ten are not real.

Hadaya-vatthu when the commentators introduced new concepts they followed two methods: a logical basis ‘yutti’ and the discourses ‘āgama’. There is a logical basis and they have to prove that there is such a basis in the Buddha’s teachings. Otherwise it could not be accepted. It explains twenty-four relations amongst the causes and effects from Paṭṭhāna.

The Nissaya-paccaya has a main cause because when something arises, for example, if a tree comes into being its main cause is the seed, while the soil, water, sunshine and other things are the association causes.

Then the Abhidhamma says here in this sentence Buddha had referred to a certain material form that makes the basis for mind, mental objects and mind consciousness. Then Abhidhamma says we have given a name for that material element. Though Buddha has not given a name for that, he refers to a material element. That is the quotation taken from Paṭṭhāna in order to prove that there is hadaya-vatthu.                                              18.10.11