[597] What is that [material] form which is the sphere of vision (ca k k hayatanam)? The eye,1 that is to say the sentient organ,2 derived from the Great Phenomena, included in the self-state, nature of the self, invisible and reacting by which eye, invisible and 1 Cakkhu, which stands for vision, sense of sight and eye. "Eye," however, is always in the present work to be understood as the seeing faculty of visual sense, and not as the physical organ or eye of flesh" (mamsa-cakk hu). The Cy. gives a vivid detailed disquisition on the eye as psychophysical organ. Cf. Expositor, 402 f. The visual sentient organ (pas ādacakkhu) was held to be in size of the measure of a louse's head. Cf. below, 208, n. 1. 2 Pasado, not found prior to the Abhidhamma-Pitaka. By selecting this term, continues the Cy., he (the Buddha) rejects the other (physical) eye. Pasado, meaning literally clearness, brightness, serenity, faith, is used to denote the receptive reacting sense-agency. It is not easy to divine exactly how the Buddhists came to use the word in this connexion. It is used co-ordinately for all the other senses, hence the sensuous signification had nothing to do with the specific nature of sight (unless this was made the type of all other sensation). Taken causatively it may conceivably have meant either that which makes clear-a revealer, as it were (cf. Böthl. and Rothprasadana), or that which gratifies or satisfies (beruhigen), both meanings emphasizing psychological process, rather than product" or "seat". 66 Attabhava-pariya panno. "The body and the five skandhas are here termed nature of the self, after the usage of foolish folk who say, This is myself'" (Asl. 308). Thus the usage of a t t abhavo was considered to be a concession on the part of the Teacher to animistic phraseology. 4 i.e. "impact and reaction are set up in the eye" (ibid.). reacting, one has seen, sees, will, or may see material shape that is visible and reacting-this that is sight, the sphere of sight, the element of vision, the faculty of vision, [this that is] "the world", "a door", "an ocean", "lucent", a field", "[physical] basis", "a guide", "guidance", the "hither shore", an empty village "—this is that [material] shape which constitutes the sphere of vision. 66 [598] What is that [material] form which is the sphere of vision? The eye, that is to say the sentient organ, derived from the four Great Phenomena, included in the self-state, invisible and reacting, and against which eye, invisible and reacting, 1 Paraphrased by ayam satto, any given individual (ibid.). 66 66 2 This and the following similes will be quotations of metaphors applied to the senses in the Sutta Piṭaka. e.g. that of the " empty village occurs in S. iv, 174–S u ñño gamo ti kho, bhikkhave, channam ajjhattikānam [?āyatananamadhivacan a m. That of a "door", which in the age of the Commentaries was the regular term for senseorgan, is, I believe, seldom used in the Sutta-Piṭaka, and then only as a poetical figure, not as a technical term. Cf. e.g. indriyesu guttadvaro (DI. 63, 250). Buddhaghosa simply paraphrases the various metaphors-" world," by reason of wasting and decay (S. iv, 52, 87); door," by reason of customary resort; ocean, by reason of its insatiableness (S. iv, 157); “lucent," by reason of its purity; "field," by reason of the springing up (growth) of contact, etc.; "base," by reason of its fixed seat; guide," "guidance," by reason of its leading, showing a person agreements and differences; "hither shore," by reason of its being included in the “body of this life" (or individuality, sa k kā yam, S. iv, 175, 180); empty village," because it is common to many, because there is no headman (i.e. Ego or soul. Many must mean the individual considered as an aggregate of constituents). The metaphors, it will be seen, are applied equally, with the sole exception of "guide" and "guidance", to each remaining sense. By the explanation of these two figures given in the Cy., they should have been left to stand for each sense. Buddhaghosa, however, is, of course, not responsible for the expressions used in the Pitakas. Yet it is slightly disappointing that he makes no comment. 66 66 [material] shape that is visible and reacting, has impinged,1 impinges, will, or may impinge this that is sight, the sphere of sight, the constituent element of sight, etc. [continue as in § 597]. [599] What is that [material] form which is the sphere of vision? The eye, that is to say the sentient organ, derived from the four Great Phenomena, included in the self-state, invisible and reacting, which eye, invisible and reacting, has impinged, impinges, will, or may impinge on [material] shape 2 that is visible and impingeing this that is sight, the sphere of sight, etc. [continue as in § 597]. [600] What is that [material] form which is the sphere of vision? The eye, that is to say the sentient organ, derived from the four Great Phenomena, included in the self-state, invisible and reacting, (i) depending on which eye, in consequence of some [visible] shape, there has arisen, arises, will, or may arise visual contact; 4. . . (ii) and depending on which eye, in consequence of some [visible] shape, there has arisen, arises, will, or may ariseborn of that visual contact 1 In this answer, according to the Cy. (p. 309), involuntary visual sensation is described, as when lightning flashes on the sight of one not looking for it. 2 Here (Asl. 309) we have voluntary sense-impression described the process in the case of one who, by his own desire, seeking to look at some object, concentrates his vision 3 Cakkhum nissāya, rūpam ārab bha. 4 Here there should be in the text pe.. as in the corresponding passage for the other four senses. Cf. n. 4. In K. it is also inadvertently omitted here. 5 Cakkhuviññāņa m here replaces the fourth mode of consciousness, cittam, or thought, in the series invariably [further, vi] depending on 1 which eye, and having a [visible] shape as its object, there has arisen, arises, will, or may arise visual contact, (vii) and depending on which eye, and having a visible form as its object, there has arisen, arises, will, or may arise, born of that visual contact, a feeling. [or viii] a perception [or ix] volition . . . [or x] visual cognition this that is sight, the sphere of sight, etc. [continue as in § 597].2 66 stated as aroused by contact in connexion with the Eight Types of Thought given in Book I, chap. i. Volition (ce ta na) may stand for a train of ideas set going by the sensation having no special reference to the visible object as such. Visual cognition, on the other hand, would take special account of the thing seen. Or possibly the two are to be considered as corresponding approximately to process and product. Cf. what has been said above on both terms, p. 8, n. 1. 1 Judging by the corresponding passages in §§ 604, 608, 612, 616, by K. and by the comments of Buddhaghosa, I find that the following passage has been erroneously omitted in the text before the words ca kkhum p'etam: ре yam cakkhum nissa ya rūpārammano cakkhusam Р h asso uppajji vā uppajjati vā uppaj jissati va uppajje vā, yam cakkhum nissay a rūpāramma ņā cakkhus amp hassaj ā pe... sa ññā khuviññāṇam ре cetanā ре vedanā cak uppajji vā uppajjati vā uppajji vā uppajje v a. Cf. also § 620. 66 2 According to the Cy. (310), this reply, when rehearsed in full, reveals ten distinct answers, each commencing with the refrain: The eye, that is to say," etc., to self, invisible and reacting". They may be summarized and generalized thus: (i) Sense-impression or contact, as conditioned by sense-organ and sense-stimulus. (ii) Resultant feeling. (iii-v) Resultant intellectual states. (vi) Sense-impression or contact, as conditioned by sense-organ and idea of sense-object. (vii-x) Resultant states as in (ii-v). What was precisely the difference between the processes named as (i) and (vi) it is not yet easy to determine with certainty. [601-4] What is that [material] form which is the sphere of hearing? The ear, that is to say the sentient organ,1 derived from the four Great Phenomena, forming part of the nature of the self, invisible and reacting,— (a) by which ear, invisible and reacting, one has heard, hears, will, or may hear sound that is invisible and reacting ; (b) against which ear, invisible and reacting, sound that is invisible and reacting, has impinged, impinges, will, or may impinge; (c) which ear, invisible and reacting, has impinged, impinges, will, or may impinge on sound that is invisible and reacting; (d) depending on which ear, in consequence of a sound, there has arisen, arises, will, or may arise auditory contact; . . . and, depending on which ear, in consequence of a sound, there has arisen, arises, will, or may arise, born of that auditory contact, a feeling [or] volition . [or] auditory cognition ; [further] depending on which ear, and having a sound as its object, there has arisen, arises, will, or may arise auditory contact, and, depending on which ear, and having a sound as its object, there has arisen, arises, will, or may arise, born of that auditory contact, 1 This, situated within the cavity of the aggregate organism of the ear, and well furnished with fine reddish hairs, is in shape like a little finger-stall (a nguli-ve-thana ka). (Asl. 310.) Cf. Hardy, loc. cit. |