清淨道論 白話全本 · 冊18Visuddhimagga · Complete Vernacular · Vol. 18

The vernacular of this unit is this edition’s own rendering-with-exposition from the Pāli original (tr. mine); see this unit’s apparatus for the base-text particulars.

§1 Establishing Purification of View—With the Two Root Purifications Accomplished, Seeing Name-and-Form as They Really Are Is This Purification 〔CSCD §662〕

Eighteen: Exposition of the Purification of View

The Account of Apprehending Name-and-Form

It was said earlier: “Among these phenomena that serve as the soil of wisdom, after gaining familiarity with knowledge through learning and inquiry, the two purifications that constitute the root—‘purification of virtue and purification of mind’—should be accomplished.” Here, purification of virtue is the fourfold virtue beginning with the fully purified restraint of the Pātimokkha; this has already been explained in detail in the exposition of virtue. Purification of mind is the eight attainments together with access¹; these too have already been explained in every aspect in the exposition of concentration stated under the heading of “mind.” Thus those two should be understood according to the method explained there.

As for the statement, “Purification of view, purification by overcoming doubt, purification by knowledge and vision of what is and is not the path, purification by knowledge and vision of the way, and purification by knowledge and vision—these five purifications are the body²,” seeing name-and-form as they really are is called purification of view.

§2 Apprehension by One Whose Vehicle Is Serenity—Emerging from Jhāna, Taking Up Its Factors and Associated Phenomena, and Finding Heart-Materiality by Seeking Name’s Support 〔CSCD §663〕

First, one whose vehicle is serenity³ and who wishes to accomplish it should emerge from any one of the fine-material or immaterial jhānas other than the base of neither-perception-nor-non-perception. He should then apprehend, by way of characteristic, function, and so forth, the jhāna factors beginning with applied thought and the phenomena associated with them. Having apprehended them, he should determine: all of these incline toward their object; thus, in the sense of inclining, they are called “name.”

After that, just as someone who sees a snake inside a house and follows it comes to see its lair, so too, when this practitioner examines that “name” and seeks to know, “Dependent on what does this name occur?” he sees its support—heart-materiality⁴. He then apprehends materiality: the great primaries supporting heart-materiality and the remaining derived materiality dependent on the primaries. He determines all of it thus: because it undergoes alteration, it is “form.” He then determines name-and-form in brief: what has inclining as its characteristic is name; what has undergoing alteration as its characteristic is form.

§3 The Door of Defining the Four Elements—From Thirty-Two to Forty-Two Aspects, Sixty Material Phenomena, and Eighty-One Consciousnesses 〔CSCD §664〕

One whose vehicle is bare insight⁵—or this same person whose vehicle is serenity—apprehends the four elements either briefly or in detail by any one of the doors for apprehending the elements described in the defining of the four elements.

Then, when the elements have become manifest according to their actual function and characteristic, first, in the portion originating from kamma and so forth: in the head-hair there are ten material phenomena in the body decad—four elements, color, odor, flavor, nutritive essence, life, and body-sensitivity. Right there, because the sex faculty is present, there are ten in the sex decad. Right there are another twenty-four: the nutritive-essence octad⁶ originating from nutriment, that originating from temperature, and that originating from mind. Thus in each of the twenty-four portions that have four origins, there are forty-four material phenomena. Each of the four—sweat, tears, spittle, and mucus—has two origins, temperature and mind, and so contains sixteen material phenomena in two nutritive-essence octads. Each of the four—stomach contents, feces, pus, and urine—originates from temperature and manifests only eight material phenomena in the nutritive-essence octad originating from temperature. This, first, is the method for the thirty-two aspects.

When those thirty-two aspects have become manifest, another ten aspects also become manifest. Of these, first, in the portion consisting of the kamma-born fire element that digests what is eaten and so forth, there are nine material phenomena: the nutritive-essence octad and life. Likewise, in the portion consisting of mind-born in-breath and out-breath, there are also nine: the nutritive-essence octad and sound. In each of the remaining eight portions that have four origins, thirty-three material phenomena become manifest: the life nonad and three nutritive-essence octads.

After he has thus made these great primaries and derived materiality manifest in detail through the forty-two aspects, another sixty material phenomena become manifest by way of support and door: the five beginning with the eye decad and the heart-basis decad. He gathers all of that into one under the characteristic of undergoing alteration and sees, “This is form.”

When he has thus apprehended form, immaterial phenomena become manifest by way of the doors: the two sets of fivefold consciousness, the three mind elements, and the sixty-eight mind-consciousness elements—these eighty-one mundane consciousnesses—together with the seven mental factors that generally arise with each of them: contact, feeling, perception, volition, life, stability of mind, and attention. Supramundane consciousnesses do not enter into the apprehension either of one whose vehicle is bare insight or of one whose vehicle is serenity, since they have not yet been attained. He gathers all those immaterial phenomena into one under the characteristic of inclining and sees, “This is name.” In this way, one person determines name-and-form in detail through the door of defining the four elements.

§4 The Two Doors of the Eighteen Elements and Twelve Bases—Taking Eye-Sensitivity, Not the Lump of Flesh 〔CSCD §665–666〕

Another proceeds by way of the eighteen elements. How? Here a bhikkhu turns his attention to the elements—“In this individual existence there is the eye element ... and so on as before ... the mind-consciousness element.” But he does not take as the eye the lump of flesh that the world designates “eye,” mottled by white and black circles, long and broad, and fastened by sinew threads inside the eye socket. Rather, he determines as the “eye element” the eye-sensitivity of the kind stated among derived materiality in the exposition of the aggregates.

The remaining fifty-three material phenomena he determines as “not the eye element”: the four elements that support it; the four surrounding phenomena—color, odor, flavor, and nutritive essence; the life faculty that safeguards it—these nine conascent material phenomena; the twenty kamma-born material phenomena of the body decad and sex decad situated there; and the twenty-four unappropriated material phenomena⁷ in the three nutritive-essence octads originating from nutriment and so forth. The method is the same for the ear element and the others. In the case of the body element, however, there are forty-three remaining material phenomena. Some, though, say forty-five, counting those originating from temperature and mind as nine each together with sound.

Thus the five sensitivities and their five objects—visible form, sound, odor, flavor, and tangibility—are ten material phenomena and ten elements. The remaining materiality belongs only to the phenomena element. Consciousness that occurs dependent on the eye and with reference to visible form is called the eye-consciousness element; in this way the two sets of fivefold consciousness are five consciousness elements. The three mind-element consciousnesses make one mind element, and the sixty-eight mind-consciousness-element consciousnesses make the mind-consciousness element; thus all eighty-one mundane consciousnesses are seven consciousness elements. Contact and the other factors associated with them belong to the phenomena element. In this way, ten and a half elements here are form and seven and a half are name; one person thus determines name-and-form by way of the eighteen elements.

Another proceeds by way of the twelve bases. How? According to the method stated for the eye element, he excludes those fifty-three material phenomena and determines only eye-sensitivity as the “eye base.” According to the method stated there, he determines the ear, nose, tongue, and body elements as the “ear, nose, tongue, and body bases”; their five objects as the “visible-form, sound, odor, flavor, and tangible bases”; the seven mundane consciousness elements as the “mind base”; and contact and the other factors associated with them, together with the remaining materiality, as the “phenomena base.” Thus ten and a half bases here are form and one and a half are name; one person thus determines name-and-form by way of the twelve bases.

§5 The Two Doors of the Five Aggregates and the Brief Method—The Judgment Concerning Seventeen Produced Forms and Ten Forms 〔CSCD §667–668〕

Another determines them more briefly still by way of the aggregates. How? Here a bhikkhu sees within this body the four elements of fourfold origin; color, odor, flavor, and nutritive essence dependent on them; the five sensitivities beginning with eye-sensitivity; basis-materiality, sex, the life faculty, and sound of twofold origin. These seventeen material phenomena are fit for comprehension, are produced materiality, and are materiality-as-materiality⁸. But bodily intimation, verbal intimation, the space element, material lightness, malleability, wieldiness, accumulation, continuity, aging, and impermanence—these ten material phenomena are not fit for comprehension. They are merely alterations and delimitations in the mode of materiality; they are not produced materiality and not materiality-as-materiality. Still, because they are merely alterations and delimitations in the mode of material phenomena, they are also called “materiality.” All twenty-seven material phenomena in this way are the materiality aggregate. Feeling arising with the eighty-one mundane consciousnesses is the feeling aggregate; perception associated with them is the perception aggregate; formations are the formations aggregate; and consciousness is the consciousness aggregate. Thus the materiality aggregate is form and the four immaterial aggregates are name; one person thus determines name-and-form by way of the five aggregates.

Another, following the statement, “Whatever form there is, all form is the four great primaries and form derived from the four great primaries,” apprehends only briefly the form in this individual existence. Likewise he apprehends that “the mind base and a portion of the phenomena base are name.” He then determines name-and-form in brief: “This is name; this is form; this is called name-and-form.”

§6 Instruction for When Form Is Clear but the Immaterial Does Not Appear—Do Not Lay Down the Yoke: Three Similes of the Mirror, Sesame, and the Kataka Seed 〔CSCD §669〕

If, however, after apprehending form through one door or another, the immaterial does not appear to him while he is apprehending it because of its subtlety, he should not lay down the yoke⁹. He should examine form again and again, attend to form, apprehend form, and determine form. For the more thoroughly washed, disentangled, and completely purified his form becomes, the more naturally the immaterial phenomena that take it as their object become manifest.

Suppose a sighted person looks at the image of his face in an unclean mirror, and the image does not appear. He does not throw the mirror away because “the image does not appear,” but polishes it again and again; when the mirror is clean, the image naturally appears. Or suppose someone seeking oil pours sesame meal into a trough, sprinkles it with water, and no oil comes out after pressing it only once or twice. He does not throw away the sesame meal, but sprinkles it again and again with hot water, kneads it, and presses it; when he does so, clear sesame oil comes out. Or suppose someone wishing to clarify water takes a kataka seed¹⁰, puts a hand down into the jar, and the water does not clear after rubbing it only once or twice. He does not throw away the seed, but rubs it again and again; when he does so, the sediment sinks and the water becomes clear and limpid. In the same way, that bhikkhu should not lay down the yoke, but should examine form again and again, attend to form, apprehend form, and determine form.

For the more thoroughly washed, disentangled, and completely purified his form becomes, the more the defilements opposed by it sink down, and the mind becomes clear like water above sediment; the immaterial phenomena taking it as their object naturally become manifest. This meaning should also be illustrated by the remaining similes of sugarcane, a thief, an ox, curd, a fish, and so forth.

Notes

¹ Access [access concentration] (upacāra-samādhi): the level of concentration at which the hindrances have been suppressed but absorption has not yet been entered. It contrasts with absorption concentration (appanā-samādhi), in which the mind enters its object fully and remains unwavering. This chapter takes “the eight attainments together with access” as the measure of purification of mind.

² Body (sarīra): the collective designation for the latter five purifications, contrasted with the two root purifications, purification of virtue and purification of mind. The same word is rendered “body” in the chapter on the aggregates in the phrase “soil, root, and body of wisdom”; the two occurrences belong to different structural divisions.

³ One whose vehicle is serenity (samathayānika): a practitioner who first develops serenity and then turns to insight; this unit takes emerging from jhāna and apprehending its factors as the point of entry.

⁴ Heart-materiality (hadayarūpa): the materiality on which the mind element and mind-consciousness element depend; this unit takes it as the support of name.

⁵ One whose vehicle is bare insight (suddhavipassanāyānika): a practitioner who enters insight directly without taking jhāna as a vehicle; this unit takes the defining of the four elements as the point of entry.

⁶ Nutritive-essence octad (ojaṭṭhamaka): a material group in which nutritive essence is the eighth, consisting of the four great primaries and color, odor, flavor, and nutritive essence. Materiality originating from nutriment, temperature, or mind has this as its minimal group.

⁷ Unappropriated materiality (anupādinnarūpa): materiality not produced by kamma; here it denotes the twenty-four material phenomena produced by the other three origins, beginning with nutriment.

⁸ Materiality-as-materiality (rūparūpa): materiality produced in its own nature and characterized by undergoing alteration, contrasted with the ten forms that are only alterations and delimitations in its mode.

⁹ Laying down the yoke (dhuranikkhepa): like an ox being unyoked and stopping midway, a simile for abandoning one’s meditation subject before completing the work. This unit’s instruction is precisely “not laying down the yoke.”

¹⁰ Kataka seed (katakaṭṭhi): the kernel of a fruit placed in turbid water to make the sediment settle; it has traditionally been used to clarify water.

The vernacular of this unit is this edition’s own rendering-with-exposition from the Pāli original (tr. mine); see this unit’s apparatus for the base-text particulars.

§1 The Immaterial Becomes Manifest in Three Ways—Through Contact, Feeling, or Consciousness 〔CSCD §670〕

The Account of How Immaterial Phenomena Become Manifest

For one whose apprehension of form has been purified in this way, immaterial phenomena become manifest in three ways: through contact, through feeling, or through consciousness. How?

First, for one person, when the elements are apprehended according to the method beginning “The earth element has hardness as its characteristic,” the initial impact¹ is contact; the feeling associated with it is the feeling aggregate; perception is the perception aggregate; volition together with contact is the formations aggregate; and mind is the consciousness aggregate—this is how they become manifest. Likewise, in the series “In head-hair the earth element has hardness as its characteristic ... and so on as before ... in in-breath and out-breath the earth element has hardness as its characteristic,” the initial impact is contact; the feeling associated with it is the feeling aggregate ... and so on as before ... and mind is the consciousness aggregate—this is how they become manifest. Thus immaterial phenomena become manifest through contact.

For another person, when “the earth element has hardness as its characteristic,” the feeling that experiences the flavor of that object is the feeling aggregate; the perception associated with it is the perception aggregate; the contact and volition associated with it are the formations aggregate; and the mind associated with it is the consciousness aggregate—this is how they become manifest. Likewise, in the series “In head-hair the earth element has hardness as its characteristic ... and so on as before ... in in-breath and out-breath the earth element has hardness as its characteristic,” the feeling that experiences the flavor of that object is the feeling aggregate ... and so on as before ... and the mind associated with it is the consciousness aggregate—this is how they become manifest. Thus immaterial phenomena become manifest through feeling.

For another person, when “the earth element has hardness as its characteristic,” the consciousness that cognizes the object is the consciousness aggregate; the feeling associated with it is the feeling aggregate; perception is the perception aggregate; and contact and volition are the formations aggregate—this is how they become manifest. Likewise, in the series “In head-hair the earth element has hardness as its characteristic ... and so on as before ... in in-breath and out-breath the earth element has hardness as its characteristic,” the consciousness that cognizes the object is the consciousness aggregate; the feeling associated with it is the feeling aggregate; perception is the perception aggregate; and contact and volition are the formations aggregate—this is how they become manifest. Thus immaterial phenomena become manifest through consciousness.

By this same method, the exposition should be applied, following every distinction of method, to each of the four elements in the forty-two portions of the elements², according to the method beginning “In kamma-originated head-hair, the earth element has hardness as its characteristic,” and likewise to the remaining doors for apprehending form, beginning with the eye element.

§2 Only One Whose Apprehension of Form Is Thoroughly Purified Should Develop the Immaterial—The Mountain-Cow Warning and the Twofold Judgment of Name-and-Form 〔CSCD §671〕

Because immaterial phenomena become manifest in three ways only to one whose apprehension of form has been purified in this way, one should engage in apprehending the immaterial only when apprehension of form has been thoroughly purified, not otherwise. For if one abandons form and begins apprehending the immaterial when only one or two material phenomena have become manifest, one falls away from the meditation subject like the mountain cow³ described in the development of the earth kasiṇa. But when one whose apprehension of form has been thoroughly purified engages in apprehending the immaterial, the meditation subject reaches increase, growth, and fullness.

One determines thus: the four immaterial aggregates that have become manifest through contact and so forth are name; the four great primaries that are their objects and the form derived from the four great primaries are form. In this way, one divides and determines the eighteen elements, twelve bases, and five aggregates—all phenomena of the three planes—as name and form, like opening a casket with a sword or splitting the root of twin palmyra palms. One reaches the decision that apart from name-and-form there is no being, person, deity, or Brahmā.

§3 Collating the Many Discourses—The Chariot Stanza, House Simile, and Suffering Stanza 〔CSCD §672〕

Collation of Many Discourses

Having thus determined name-and-form according to its actual function, in order to abandon more fully the worldly conventions “being” and “person,” to transcend delusion about a being, and to establish the mind on the ground of non-delusion⁴, one determines the meaning “This is only name-and-form; there is no being and no person” by collating it with many discourses. For it has been said:

　　Just as the name “chariot” arises dependent on an assemblage of parts,
　　So, when the aggregates are present, there is the conventional name “being.”

It has also been said: “Friend, just as the space enclosed dependent on timber, dependent on creepers, dependent on clay, and dependent on grass comes to be called a house, so too, friend, the space enclosed dependent on bones, dependent on sinews, dependent on flesh, and dependent on skin comes to be called form.”

It has also been said:

　　Only suffering arises; only suffering stands and passes away;
　　Nothing apart from suffering arises; nothing other than suffering ceases.

Notes

¹ Initial impact (paṭhamābhinipāta): the characteristic of mind first striking an object; this unit takes it as the characteristic of contact.

² Portion of the elements (dhātukoṭṭhāsa): a division among the bodily parts; here there are forty-two portions, the count formed by adding ten aspects to the thirty-two. Its detailed exposition is in the unit on defining the four elements.

³ Mountain cow (pabbateyyā gāvī): a simile for one who advances rashly without skill in the terrain; its full account occurs in the chapter on the earth kasiṇa. Here it warns of falling away through “turning prematurely to the immaterial before form has been purified.”

⁴ Ground of non-delusion (asammohabhūmi): the ground on which one sees name-and-form as they really are without being deluded by the names “being” and “person”; this unit presents establishing the mind here as the purpose of collating the discourses.

The vernacular of this unit is this edition’s own rendering-with-exposition from the Pāli original (tr. mine); see this unit’s apparatus for the base-text particulars.

§1 Seven Similes Show That There Is Only Designation—Chariot, House, Fist, Lute, Army, City, and Tree 〔CSCD §673〕

Clarifying Name-and-Form Through Similes

Thus what hundreds of discourses reveal is only name-and-form, not a being and not a person. Just as, when an assemblage of parts such as axle, wheels, frame, and shaft is arranged in a particular configuration, “chariot” is merely a designation¹; when each part is examined one by one in the ultimate sense², there is no thing called a “chariot.” Just as, when building materials such as timber are arranged in a particular configuration enclosing a space, “house” is merely a designation; in the ultimate sense, there is no thing called a “house.” Just as, when fingers, thumb, and so forth are arranged in a particular configuration, “fist” is merely a designation. With the trough, strings, and so forth: “lute.” With elephants, horses, and so forth: “army.” With walls, houses, gateways, and so forth: “city.” And just as, when trunk, branches, leaves, and so forth are arranged in a particular configuration, “tree” is merely a designation; when its parts are examined one by one in the ultimate sense, there is no thing called a “tree.”

In the same way, when the five aggregates of clinging are present, “being” and “person” are merely designations; when the phenomena are examined one by one in the ultimate sense, there is no thing called a “being” that could serve as the basis for the grasping “I am” or “I.” In the ultimate sense, there is only name-and-form. The seeing of one who sees in this way is called seeing as it really is.

§2 One Who Grasps a Being Must Fall into the Two Extremes of Eternalism and Annihilationism—The Discourse on Two Views and Three Kinds of People 〔CSCD §674〕

Whoever abandons this seeing as it really is and grasps that “a being exists” must admit either that it is destroyed or that it is not destroyed. Admitting that it is not destroyed, one falls into eternalism³; admitting that it is destroyed, one falls into annihilationism. Why? Because there is no other thing that follows it, as curd follows milk. Grasping that “the being is eternal” is called holding back; grasping that “it is annihilated” is called overshooting. Therefore the Blessed One said:

“Bhikkhus, devas and humans are beset by two kinds of view: some hold back, some overshoot, while those with eyes see.”

“Bhikkhus, how do some hold back? Bhikkhus, devas and humans delight in becoming, take pleasure in becoming, and rejoice in becoming. When the Dhamma for the cessation of becoming is taught to them, their minds do not enter it, gain confidence in it, settle upon it, or resolve upon it. Bhikkhus, this is how some hold back.”

“Bhikkhus, how do some overshoot? Some are troubled, ashamed, and disgusted by existence itself and delight in nonexistence: ‘Sirs, it is said that after the breakup of the body this self is annihilated and disappears, and does not exist after death. This is peaceful, this is sublime, this is true.’ Bhikkhus, this is how some overshoot.”

“Bhikkhus, how do those with eyes see? Here, bhikkhus, a bhikkhu sees what has come to be as what has come to be. Having seen what has come to be as what has come to be, he practices for disenchantment with, dispassion toward, and cessation of what has come to be. Bhikkhus, this is how those with eyes see.”

§3 Two Similes of the Puppet and Bundles of Reeds—Empty, Lifeless, Inactive, Yet Mutually Dependent 〔CSCD §675〕

Thus, just as a wooden puppet is empty, lifeless, and inactive, yet through the conjunction of wood and strings it walks and stands and appears to possess activity and agency, so this name-and-form too should be seen as empty, lifeless, and inactive, yet through mutual conjunction it walks and stands and appears to possess activity and agency. Therefore the Ancients said:

　　Here in truth are name and form alone;
　　Here there is no being and no person.
　　This is empty, like a fabricated mechanism,
　　Merely a heap of suffering, like grass and wood.

Moreover, this should be clarified not only through the simile of the puppet but also through the remaining similes beginning with bundles of reeds. Just as two bundles of reeds stand leaning against each other, each supporting the other, and when one falls the other also falls, so too, in five-aggregate becoming⁴, name-and-form occur leaning upon each other, each supporting the other; when one falls at death, the other also falls. Therefore the Ancients said:

　　Name and form are twins, each depending on the other;
　　When one breaks, both break together through conditions.

§4 The Simile of Drum and Sound—Name-and-Form Do Not Mix, Yet Condition Each Other 〔CSCD §676〕

Again, just as when sound occurs dependent on a drum struck by a stick, the drum is one thing and the sound another, drum and sound do not mix, the drum is empty of sound, and sound is empty of the drum; so too, when name occurs dependent on the form called support, door, and object, form is one thing and name another, name and form do not mix, name is empty of form, and form is empty of name. Yet just as sound occurs conditioned by the drum, name occurs conditioned by form. Therefore the Ancients said:

　　Those with contact as the fifth⁵ are born neither from the eye,
　　Nor from visible form, nor from between the two;
　　Conditioned phenomena arise dependent on causes,
　　Just as sound arises when a drum is struck.

　　Those with contact as the fifth are born neither from the ear,
　　Nor from sound, nor from between the two ... and so on as before ...

　　Those with contact as the fifth are born neither from the nose,
　　Nor from odor, nor from between the two ... and so on as before ...

　　Those with contact as the fifth are born neither from the tongue,
　　Nor from flavor, nor from between the two ... and so on as before ...

　　Those with contact as the fifth are born neither from the body,
　　Nor from tangibility, nor from between the two ... and so on as before ...

　　Conditioned phenomena are born neither from basis-materiality,
　　Nor do they issue from the phenomena base;
　　Conditioned phenomena arise dependent on causes,
　　Just as sound arises when a drum is struck.

§5 Name-and-Form Each Lack Power of Their Own—The Blind-and-Lame Simile, Three Boat Stanzas, the Definition of Purification of View, and Its Two Alternative Names 〔CSCD §677〕

Moreover, here name is powerless and cannot occur by its own power: it does not eat, drink, speak, or assume a posture⁶. Form too is powerless and cannot occur by its own power. For it has no wish to eat, no wish to drink, no wish to speak, and no wish to assume a posture. Rather, form occurs dependent on name, and name occurs dependent on form. When name has the wish to eat, drink, speak, or assume a posture, form eats, drinks, speaks, or assumes a posture.

To clarify this meaning, the following simile is given. Suppose a person blind from birth and a lame person wished to travel elsewhere. The person blind from birth said to the lame person, “Look, I can use my feet to do what feet should do, but I have no eyes with which to see even and uneven ground.” The lame person likewise said to the person blind from birth, “Look, I can use my eyes to do what eyes should do, but I have no feet with which to move forward or backward.” Delighted and satisfied, the person blind from birth took the lame person onto his shoulders. Seated there, the lame person instructed him: “Leave the left; take the right. Leave the right; take the left.”

Here, the person blind from birth is powerless and weak and cannot travel by his own power and ability. The lame person too is powerless and weak and cannot travel by his own power and ability. Yet because they depend on each other, they travel; it is not that movement does not occur. Likewise, name is powerless: it does not arise by its own power or occur in this or that activity. Form too is powerless: it does not arise by its own power or occur in this or that activity. Yet because they depend on each other, they arise and occur; it is not that they do not exist. Therefore it is said:

　　They are not born by their own power,
　　Nor do they stand by their own power;
　　Conditioned phenomena occur in dependence on other phenomena,
　　Born weak in their own power.

　　They are born conditioned by another,
　　Originating from another as object;
　　By conditions consisting in objects,
　　By other phenomena, these are brought to birth.

　　Just as people cross the ocean dependent on a boat,
　　So the name-body occurs dependent on form.

　　And just as a boat travels the ocean dependent on people,
　　So the form-body occurs dependent on name.

　　People and boat both travel the ocean depending on each other;
　　So too name and form depend upon each other.

It should thus be understood: for one who determines name-and-form by various methods, seeing name-and-form as they really are—which has overcome the perception of a being and stands on the ground of non-delusion—is purification of view. “Determination of name-and-form” and “delimitation of formations”⁷ are also alternative names for this same thing.

In the Visuddhimagga, composed to gladden good people,

In the section on the development of wisdom,

The exposition called Purification of View,

The eighteenth chapter, is concluded.

Notes

¹ Mere designation (vohāramatta): only a name established by worldly usage, without a corresponding entity; this unit illustrates it with seven similes.

² Ultimate sense (paramattha): a real phenomenon that cannot be broken down further when examined one by one; contrasted with mere designation.

³ Eternalism and annihilationism (sassata・uccheda): grasping that a being is not destroyed falls into eternalism, and grasping that it is destroyed falls into annihilationism. This unit presents the two extremes as what one must fall into upon abandoning seeing as it really is; the cited discourse calls them “holding back” and “overshooting.”

⁴ Five-aggregate becoming (pañcavokārabhava): a mode of becoming in which both form and mind are complete—that is, sense becoming and fine-material becoming [excluding the non-percipient realm]. The simile of the bundles of reeds applies only to this mode of becoming.

⁵ Those with contact as the fifth (phassapañcamā): the collective designation for the five phenomena contact, feeling, perception, volition, and mind, established with contact as the fifth; the stanza uses it as a designation for mental phenomena.

⁶ Assuming a posture (iriyāpathaṃ kappeti): adopting the four postures of walking, standing, sitting, and lying down; together with eating, drinking, and speaking, it makes the four functions listed in this unit.

⁷ Determination of name-and-form and delimitation of formations (nāmarūpavavatthāna・saṅkhāraparicchedo): two alternative names for the knowledge of this chapter, explicitly marked by the Commentator as identical with purification of view.