Saṁyutta Nikāya
Connected Discourses on the Aggregates
22.47. Ways of Regarding Things
At Savatthi. “Bhikkhus, those ascetics and brahmins who regard anything as self in various ways all regard as self the five aggregates subject to clinging, or a certain one among them. What five?
“Here, bhikkhus, the uninstructed worldling, who is not a seer of the noble ones and is unskilled and undisciplined in their Dhamma, who is not a seer of superior persons and is unskilled and undisciplined in their Dhamma, regards form as self, or self as possessing form, or form as in self, or self as in form. He regards feeling as self … perception as self … volitional formations as self … consciousness as self, or self as possessing consciousness, or consciousness as in self, or self as in consciousness.
“Thus this way of regarding things and the notion ‘I am’ have not vanished in him. As ‘I am’ has not vanished, there takes place a descent of the five faculties—of the eye faculty, the ear faculty, the nose faculty, the tongue faculty, the body faculty. There is, bhikkhus, the mind, there are mental phenomena, there is the element of ignorance. When the uninstructed worldling is contacted by a feeling born of ignorance-contact, ‘I am’ occurs to him; ‘I am this’ occurs to him; ‘I will be’ and ‘I will not be,’ and ‘I will consist of form’ and ‘I will be formless,’ and ‘I will be percipient’ and ‘I will be nonpercipient’ and ‘I will be neither percipient nor nonpercipient’—these occur to him.
“The five faculties remain right there, bhikkhus, but in regard to them the instructed noble disciple abandons ignorance and arouses true knowledge. With the fading away of ignorance and the arising of true knowledge, ‘I am’ does not occur to him; ‘I am this’ does not occur to him; ‘I will be’ and ‘I will not be,’ and ‘I will consist of form’ and ‘I will be formless,’ and ‘I will be percipient’ and ‘I will be nonpercipient’ and ‘I will be neither percipient nor nonpercipient’—these do not occur to him.”
Notes Bodhi: Spk explains “this way of regarding things” as regarding with views (diṭṭhisamanupassanā), and “the notion ‘I am’” as the “triple proliferation” (papañcattaya) of craving, conceit, and views. The two differ in that “regarding” is a conceptually formulated view, the notion “I am” a subtler manifestation of ignorance expressive of desire and conceit; see the important discussion at 22:89. The view of self is eliminated by the path of stream-entry; the notion “I am” is fully eradicated only by the path of arahantship.62 I take this terse sentence to be describing the rebirth process contingent upon the persistence of the delusion of personal selfhood. Elsewhere “descent” (avakkanti)—of consciousness, or of name-and-form—indicates the commencement of a new existence (as at 12:39, 58, 59). Spk: When there is this group of defilements, there is the production of the five faculties conditioned by defilements and kamma.
63 I interpret this whole passage as a demonstration of how the new kammically active phase of existence commences through the renewal of conceiving in terms of the notion “I am” and speculative views of selfhood. Spk identifies “mind” (mano) with the kamma-mind (kammamano) and “mental phenomena” (dhammā) with its objects, or the former as the bhavaṅga and adverting consciousness. Ignorance-contact (avijjāsamphassa) is the contact associated with ignorance (avijjāsampayuttaphassa).
Ignorance is the most fundamental condition underlying this process, and when this is activated by feeling it gives rise to the notion “I am” (a manifestation of craving and conceit). The idea “I am this” arises subsequently, when the vacuous “I” is given a content by being identified with one or another of the five aggregates. Finally, full eternalist and annihilationist views originate when the imagined self is held either to survive death or to undergo destruction at death. This passage thus presents us with an alternative version of dependent origination, where the “way of regarding things” and the notion “I am” belong to the causally active side of the past existence; the five faculties to the resultant side of the present existence; and the recurrence of the notion “I am” to the causal side of the present existence. This will in turn generate renewed existence in the future.
Commentary with translation by Tipiṭaka Translation
5. Samanupassanāsuttavaṇṇanā
5.Explanation of the Sustained Attention Discourse
47. Pañcame pañcupādānakkhandhe samanupassanti etesaṃ vā aññataranti paripuṇṇagāhavasena pañcakkhandhe samanupassanti, aparipuṇṇagāhavasena etesaṃ aññataraṃ. Iti ayañceva samanupassanāti iti ayañca diṭṭhisamanupassanā. Asmīti cassa avigataṃ hotīti yassa ayaṃ samanupassanā atthi, tasmiṃ asmīti taṇhāmānadiṭṭhisaṅkhātaṃ papañcattayaṃ avigatameva hoti. Pañcannaṃ indriyānaṃ avakkanti hotīti tasmiṃ kilesajāte sati kammakilesapaccayānaṃ pañcannaṃ indriyānaṃ nibbatti hoti.
47.In the fifth, they contemplate the five aggregates of clinging or any one of them—on the five aggregates by way of complete grasping, or on any one of them by way of incomplete grasping. Thus it is contemplation, and thus it is contemplation of views. For one who has this contemplation, the notion ‘I am’ has not vanished; for him, the threefold proliferation comprising craving, conceit, and views, rooted in ‘I am’, has not vanished. The five faculties arise. When that defilement has arisen, the five faculties arise, conditioned by kamma and defilements.
Atthi, bhikkhave, manoti idaṃ kammamanaṃ sandhāya vuttaṃ. Dhammāti ārammaṇaṃ. Avijjādhātūti javanakkhaṇe avijjā. Avijjāsamphassajenāti avijjāsampayuttaphassato jātena. Apica manoti bhavaṅgakkhaṇe vipākamanodhātu, āvajjanakkhaṇe kiriyamanodhātu. Dhammādayo vuttappakārāva. Asmītipissa hotīti taṇhāmānadiṭṭhivasena asmīti evampissa hoti. Ito paresu ayamahamasmīti rūpādīsu kiñcideva dhammaṃ gahetvā ‘‘ayaṃ ahamasmī’’ti attadiṭṭhivasena vuttaṃ. Bhavissanti sassatadiṭṭhivasena. Na bhavissanti ucchedadiṭṭhivasena. Rūpī bhavissantiādīni sabbāni sassatameva bhajanti. Athetthāti atha tenevākārena ṭhitesu etesu indriyesu. Avijjā pahīyatīti catūsu saccesu aññāṇabhūtā avijjā pahīyati. Vijjā uppajjatīti arahattamaggavijjā uppajjati. Evamettha asmīti taṇhāmānadiṭṭhiyo. Kammassa pañcannañca indriyānaṃ antare eko sandhi, vipākamanaṃ pañcindriyapakkhikaṃ katvā pañcannañca indriyānaṃ kammassa ca antare eko sandhīti. Iti tayo papañcā atīto addhā, indriyādīni paccuppanno addhā, tattha kammamanaṃ ādiṃ katvā anāgatassa paccayo dassitoti. Pañcamaṃ.
“There is, monks, the mind”—this is said with reference to the volitional mind. “Phenomena”—the object. “The element of ignorance”—ignorance at the moment of impulsion. “Born of contact accompanied by ignorance”—born from contact associated with ignorance. Furthermore, “the mind”—in the moment of life-continuum, it is the resultant mind-element; in the moment of adverting, it is the functional mind-element. “Phenomena,” etc., are as previously described. “There is for him the notion ‘I am’”—this occurs through craving, conceit, and views; thus, it occurs to him. Beyond this, in others, “I am this”—taking any phenomenon such as form, etc., and thinking “this is I,” is said through the view of self. “I will be”—through the view of eternalism. “I will not be”—through the view of annihilationism. All such notions as “I will be material,” etc., all adhere solely to eternalism. “Then here”—when these faculties remain in that very state. “Ignorance is abandoned”—ignorance, which is non-knowledge regarding the four truths, is abandoned. “Knowledge arises”—the knowledge of the path of arahantship arises. Thus here, “I am” refers to craving, conceit, and views. Between kamma and the five faculties there is one connection. The resultant mind, by being associated with the five faculties, forms one connection between the five faculties and kamma. Thus the three proliferations: the past time, the present time of the faculties and so forth, and there, commencing with the volitional mind, the condition for the future is shown. Fifth.
Tika
5. Samanupassanāsuttavaṇṇanā
Tika 5.Commentary on the Samanupassanā Sutta
47. Paripuṇṇagāhavasenāti pañcakkhandhe asesetvā ekajjhaṃ ‘‘attā’’ti gahaṇavasena. Etesaṃ pañcannaṃ upādānakkhandhānaṃ aññataraṃ ‘‘attā’’ti samanupassanti. Itīti evaṃ. Yassa puggalassa ayaṃ attadiṭṭhisaṅkhātā samanupassanā atthi paṭipakkhena avihatattā saṃvijjati. Pañcannaṃ indriyānanti cakkhādīnaṃ indriyānaṃ.
47.‘By way of grasping completely’ means grasping the five aggregates without remainder, collectively, as ‘self.’ They contemplate any one of these five aggregates of clinging as ‘self.’ Thus. For the person who has this contemplation, designated as self-view, it exists, being un-eradicated by its opponent. ‘Of the five faculties’ means the faculties beginning with the eye.
Ārammaṇanti kammaviññāṇassa ārammaṇaṃ. Mānavasena ca diṭṭhivasena ca ‘‘asmī’’ti gāhe sijjhante taṃsahagatā taṇhāpi taggahitāva hotīti vuttaṃ ‘‘taṇhāmānadiṭṭhivasena asmīti evampissa hotī’’ti. Gahetvāti ahaṃkāravatthuvasena gahetvā. Ayaṃ ahamasmīti ayaṃ cakkhādiko, sukhādiko vā ahamasmi. ‘‘Rūpī attā arogo paraṃ maraṇā’’ti evamādigahaṇavasena pavattanato vuttaṃ ‘‘rūpī bhavissantiādīni sabbāni sassatameva bhajantī’’ti. Vipassanābhinivesato pubbe yathevākārāni pañcindriyāni, atha vipassanābhinivesato paraṃ tenevākārena ṭhitesu cakkhādīsu indriyesu avijjā pahīyati vipassanaṃ vaḍḍhaetvā maggassa uppādanena, atha maggaparamparāya arahattamaggavijjā uppajjati. Taṇhāmānadiṭṭhiyo kammasambhārabhāvato. Kammassa…pe… eko sandhīti hetuphalasandhi. Puna eko sandhīti phalahetusandhimāha. Tayo papañcā atīto addhā atītabhavaaddhānaṃ tesaṃ adhippetattā. Anāgatassa paccayo dassito assutavato puthujjanassa vasena. Sutavato pana ariyasāvakassa vasena vaṭṭassa vūpasamo dassitoti.
‘Object’ means the object of kamma-consciousness. When the grasping of ‘I am’ succeeds by way of conceit and by way of wrong view, the craving associated with it also becomes firmly grasped; thus it is said: ‘Through craving, conceit, and wrong view, the thought “I am” arises in this way.’ ‘Having grasped’ means having grasped by way of the ground for egoism. ‘This is me’ means ‘this eye, etc., or this pleasure, etc., is me.’ Because it arises by way of grasping such as ‘The self is form, healthy, after death,’ it is said: ‘All [views] like “I will have form,” etc., adhere only to eternalism.’ Before the establishment of insight, the five faculties are in whatever state they are; then, after the establishment of insight, when the faculties beginning with the eye remain in that same state, ignorance is abandoned by developing insight and generating the path; then, through the succession of the path, the knowledge of the Arahant Path arises. Craving, conceit, and wrong view are due to their nature as the accumulation of kamma. ‘Of kamma… one connection’ means the connection of cause and effect. ‘Again, one connection’ refers to the connection of effect and cause. The three proliferations: ‘past time’ means the duration of past existence, because that is what is intended. The condition for the future is shown from the perspective of the uninstructed ordinary person. But from the perspective of the instructed noble disciple, the cessation of the round is shown.
Samanupassanāsuttavaṇṇanā niṭṭhitā.
The Commentary on the Samanupassanā Sutta is concluded.