Points of Controversy
(Katthavathu)
BOOK XXI.
- Of our Religion.
Controverted Point.—That our religion is (has been and may again be) reformed.
1
From the Commentary.—Because after the three Councils at which the differences in our Religion were settled, some—for instance, certain of the Uttarapathakas—hold that it has been reformed, that there was such a person as a Reformer of the Religion, and that it is possible yet to reform it.
[1] Th.—What, then, has been reformed—the Applications in Mindfulness ? the Supreme Efforts ? the Steps to Iddhi ? the Moral Controls ? the Moral Forces ? the Seven Branches of Enlightenment? Or was that made good which had been bad ? Or was that which was allied with vicious things—Intoxicants, Fetters, Ties, Floods, Yokes, Hindrances, Infections, Graspings, Corruptions—made free herefrom ?
You deny all this, but your proposition [a s
, stated] implies one or the other.
[2] Or do you mean that anyone has reformed the religion founded by the Tathagata ? If so, in which of the doctrines enumerated has he effected a reform ? Again you deny. …
[3] Or if you hold that the religion may again be reformed, what in it is there that admits of reformation ?