Controverted PointPañcaviññāṇasamaṅgissa atthi maggabhāvanāti? Theravādin:But you will admit (i.) that the five kinds of sense-consciousness have a seat and an object that have already sprung up; (ii.) that their seat and object are antecedent; (iii.) that their seat is of the subject while their object is external, that seat and object are not yet broken up while operative; (iv.) that seat and object are of different varieties; (v.) that they do not enjoy mutually their respective ranges and fields; (vi.) that they come to pass not without co-ordinated application or attention; (vii.) that they are not unmixed; (viii.) are not without order in time; (ix.) are without order of contiguity; and (x.) without any ideation? Now if all this be true, your proposition cannot be true.Āmantā. Consider visual consciousness and one of the Path-subjects—Emptiness—does the former come to pass concerning the latter? If you deny, you are opposing your thesis. If you assent, I ask whether it is right doctrine to say not only:Nanu pañcaviññāṇā uppannavatthukā uppannārammaṇāti? “Because of the eye and the visible object visual consciousness arises”,Āmantā. but also:Hañci pañcaviññāṇā uppannavatthukā uppannārammaṇā, no ca vata re vattabbe—Because of the eye and Emptiness visual consciousness arises?“pañcaviññāṇasamaṅgissa atthi maggabhāvanā”ti.

Is the Suttanta thus?Of course not.Nanu pañcaviññāṇā purejātavatthukā purejātārammaṇā ajjhattikavatthukā bāhirārammaṇā asambhinnavatthukā asambhinnārammaṇā nānāvatthukā nānārammaṇā na aññamaññassa gocaravisayaṁ paccanubhonti, na asamannāhārā uppajjanti, na amanasikārā uppajjanti, na abbokiṇṇā uppajjanti, na apubbaṁ acarimaṁ uppajjanti, na aññamaññassa samanantarā uppajjanti, nanu pañcaviññāṇā anābhogāti? Of course not.Āmantā. Again, if your proposition be true, you must also affirm that visual consciousness arises concerning the past and the future. Also that it arisesnot solely because of visible object, but alsoconcerning mental contact, feeling, perception, volition, thought, the organs of sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch, and the objects of hearing, smell, taste, touch—impossible affirmations.Hañci pañcaviññāṇā anābhogā, no ca vata re vattabbe—not solely because of visible object, but also“pañcaviññāṇasamaṅgissa atthi maggabhāvanā”ti.

Now you can admit that representative (ideational) consciousness does arise concerning Emptiness, concerning the past and the future, concerning phases of mind, factors of experience, as stated just now.Cakkhuviññāṇasamaṅgissa atthi maggabhāvanāti? And one may develop a Path while enjoying representative cognition concerning any one of those matters, but not during the enjoyment of sense-consciousness, which as such is not concerned with them.Āmantā. Mahāsaṅghika:Well, but was it not said by the Exalted One:Cakkhuviññāṇaṁ suññataṁ ārabbha uppajjatīti? Mahāsaṅghika:Na hevaṁ vattabbe …pe… “Here,bhikkhus, when abhikkhusees an object with the eye, he does not grasp at the general characters nor at the details of it,… or hears a sound,… or smells,… tastes,… touches a tangible …”?cakkhuviññāṇaṁ suññataṁ ārabbha uppajjatīti? Surely here there is Path-practice by one who is enjoying the five sorts of sense-consciousness? … .Āmantā. Shwe Zan AungCakkhuñca paṭicca suññatañca uppajjati cakkhuviññāṇanti? This SuttaCentral edition was prepared byManfred WierichandVen. Vimalaand proofread byJosephine Tobin. Some changes were introduced:Na hevaṁ vattabbe …pe… Manfred Wierichcakkhuñca paṭicca suññatañca uppajjati cakkhuviññāṇanti? Ven. VimalaĀmantā. Josephine Tobin“Cakkhuñca paṭicca suññatañca uppajjati cakkhuviññāṇan”ti—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.attheva suttantoti? Abbreviations, i.e., those of cited works and the participants in the controversies, were expanded.Natthi. Cross-references were linked.“Cakkhuñca paṭicca rūpe ca uppajjati cakkhuviññāṇan”ti—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 “:”.attheva suttantoti? Letter-spacing with fixed spaces was replaced with bold font.Āmantā. The corrigenda were merged into the text. Some could not be resolved, though.Hañci “cakkhuñca paṭicca rūpe ca uppajjati cakkhuviññāṇan”ti—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/attheva suttanto, no ca vata re vattabbe—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.“cakkhuñca paṭicca suññatañca uppajjati cakkhuviññāṇan”ti.

Cakkhuviññāṇasamaṅgissa atthi maggabhāvanāti? Āmantā. Cakkhuviññāṇaṁ atītānāgataṁ ārabbha uppajjatīti? Na hevaṁ vattabbe …pe… cakkhuviññāṇasamaṅgissa atthi maggabhāvanāti? Āmantā. Cakkhuviññāṇaṁ phassaṁ ārabbha … vedanaṁ ārabbha … saññaṁ ārabbha … cetanaṁ ārabbha … cittaṁ ārabbha … cakkhuṁ ārabbha …pe… kāyaṁ ārabbha …pe… saddaṁ ārabbha …pe… phoṭṭhabbaṁ ārabbha uppajjatīti? Na hevaṁ vattabbe …pe….

Manoviññāṇasamaṅgissa atthi maggabhāvanā, manoviññāṇaṁ suññataṁ ārabbha uppajjatīti? Āmantā. Cakkhuviññāṇasamaṅgissa atthi maggabhāvanā, cakkhuviññāṇaṁ suññataṁ ārabbha uppajjatīti? Na hevaṁ vattabbe …pe… manoviññāṇasamaṅgissa atthi maggabhāvanā, manoviññāṇaṁ atītānāgataṁ ārabbha uppajjatīti? Āmantā. Cakkhuviññāṇasamaṅgissa atthi maggabhāvanā, cakkhuviññāṇaṁ atītānāgataṁ ārabbha uppajjatīti? Na hevaṁ vattabbe …pe… manoviññāṇasamaṅgissa atthi maggabhāvanā, manoviññāṇaṁ phassaṁ ārabbha … vedanaṁ ārabbha …pe… phoṭṭhabbaṁ ārabbha uppajjatīti? Āmantā. Cakkhuviññāṇasamaṅgissa atthi maggabhāvanā, cakkhuviññāṇaṁ phassaṁ ārabbha … vedanaṁ ārabbha …pe… phoṭṭhabbaṁ ārabbha uppajjatīti? Na hevaṁ vattabbe …pe….

Na vattabbaṁ—“pañcaviññāṇasamaṅgissa atthi maggabhāvanā”ti? Āmantā. Nanu vuttaṁ bhagavatā—“idha, bhikkhave, bhikkhu cakkhunā rūpaṁ disvā na nimittaggāhī hoti nānubyañjanaggāhī …pe… sotena saddaṁ sutvā …pe… ghānena gandhaṁ ghāyitvā …pe… jivhāya rasaṁ sāyitvā …pe… kāyena phoṭṭhabbaṁ phusitvā na nimittaggāhī hoti nānubyañjanaggāhī”ti. Attheva suttantoti? Āmantā. Tena hi pañcaviññāṇasamaṅgissa atthi maggabhāvanāti.

Pañcaviññāṇasamaṅgissa maggakathā niṭṭhitā.