Controverted Point: That the sphere of infinite space is unconditioned.Ākāsānañcāyatanaṁ asaṅkhatanti? Controverted PointĀmantā. Theravādin:Are you implying that it is in this respect identical withNibbāna, the Shelter, the Cave, the Refuge,the Goal, the Past-Decease, the Ambrosial? You deny … Then you cannot so class it. If you affirm, we may then have two Unconditioneds, twoNibbānas… .Nibbānaṁ tāṇaṁ leṇaṁ saraṇaṁ parāyanaṁ accutaṁ amatanti? You admit, do you not, that the sphere of infinite space is a form of rebirth, a destination, an abode of beings, a sequel in living, a matrix of birth, a station for reborn consciousness, an acquiring of individuality? Then is the unconditioned to be so described? Of course not … .Na hevaṁ vattabbe …pe… Is therekarmawhich brings us to rebirth in that sphere? “Yes”, you say. Then is therekarmawhich brings about rebirth in the unconditioned? Of course you deny … There are beings who for their deserts are reborn in that sphere of infinite space, but are there any who for their deserts are reborn in the unconditioned? Of course you deny … .ākāsānañcāyatanaṁ asaṅkhataṁ, nibbānaṁ asaṅkhatanti? Do any beings become born, decay, die, decease, and spring up again in that sphere? Yes? But surely not in the unconditioned … .Āmantā. Does mind in its four constituents exist in that sphere? Yes? But hardly in the unconditioned … You cannot call the latter a plane of life with four constituents, as is the former.Dve asaṅkhatānīti? Opponent:But did not the Exalted One say that the four Immaterial spheres are imperturbable? Surely then we may call them unconditioned.Na hevaṁ vattabbe …pe… Opponent:dve asaṅkhatānīti? Shwe Zan AungĀmantā. This SuttaCentral edition was prepared byManfred WierichandVen. Vimalaand proofread byJosephine Tobin. Some changes were introduced:Dve tāṇāni …pe… Manfred Wierichantarikā vāti? Ven. VimalaNa hevaṁ vattabbe …pe….

Josephine TobinĀkāsānañcāyatanaṁ asaṅkhatanti? Abbreviations, i.e., those of cited works and the participants in the controversies, were expanded.Cross-references were linked.Some typographic changes were introduced, among others, i.e.: the phonetic symbol “ŋ” was changed to the Pāli diacritical letter “ṃ”, “ô” to “o”, single quotes to double quotes, and “:—” to “:”.Letter-spacing with fixed spaces was replaced with bold font.The corrigenda were merged into the text. Some could not be resolved, though.Āmantā. Abbreviations, i.e., those of cited works and the participants in the controversies, were expanded.Ākāsānañcāyatanaṁ bhavo gati sattāvāso saṁsāro yoni viññāṇaṭṭhiti attabhāvapaṭilābhoti? Cross-references were linked.Āmantā. Some typographic changes were introduced, among others, i.e.: the phonetic symbol “ŋ” was changed to the Pāli diacritical letter “ṃ”, “ô” to “o”, single quotes to double quotes, and “:—” to “:”.Asaṅkhataṁ bhavo gati sattāvāso saṁsāro yoni viññāṇaṭṭhiti attabhāvapaṭilābhoti? Letter-spacing with fixed spaces was replaced with bold font.Na hevaṁ vattabbe …pe….

The corrigenda were merged into the text. Some could not be resolved, though.Atthi ākāsānañcāyatanūpagaṁ kammanti? This electronic version is published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial 3.0 licence (CC BY-NC 3.0) as found here:http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/Āmantā. All copyright is owned by the Pali Text Society. See also the statement under http://www.palitext.com/ → Publications → Copyright Announcement. For non-commercial use only.Atthi asaṅkhatūpagaṁ kammanti? Na hevaṁ vattabbe …pe… atthi ākāsānañcāyatanūpagā sattāti? Āmantā. Atthi asaṅkhatūpagā sattāti? Na hevaṁ vattabbe …pe….

Ākāsānañcāyatane sattā jāyanti jīyanti mīyanti cavanti upapajjantīti? Āmantā. Asaṅkhate sattā jāyanti jīyanti mīyanti cavanti upapajjantīti? Na hevaṁ vattabbe …pe… ākāsānañcāyatane atthi vedanā saññā saṅkhārā viññāṇanti? Āmantā. Asaṅkhate atthi vedanā saññā saṅkhārā viññāṇanti? Na hevaṁ vattabbe …pe… ākāsānañcāyatanaṁ catuvokārabhavoti? Āmantā. Asaṅkhataṁ catuvokārabhavoti? Na hevaṁ vattabbe …pe….

Na vattabbaṁ—“cattāro āruppā asaṅkhatā”ti? Āmantā. Nanu cattāro āruppā anejā vuttā bhagavatāti? Āmantā. Hañci cattāro āruppā anejā vuttā bhagavatā, tena vata re vattabbe—“cattāro āruppā asaṅkhatā”ti.

Āruppakathā niṭṭhitā.