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B030302Vibhaṅga mūlaṭīkā(vibhanga root commentary)

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such as rightness and wrongness, by their strong nature, to show that the object is non-existent. Having thus shown the arising of consciousness in the process of existence, to show it in rebirth, he says, "What was said..." and so on. By whom and where? By which consciousness, in which existence? Nineteen rebirths, arising with this or that consciousness, at the moment of rebirth, are material and immaterial phenomena, meaning that with this or that consciousness, that particular rebirth occurs there and then. Of that, meaning of the consciousness. Having come, as if having come. Gopaka Sīvalī, born in the Gopaka family, a protector of the king, named Sīvalī. Because there is no activity of remembering karma and so on, it is called "death in confusion." For it is by non-activity that the karma and so on appear there. Some give the reason, "When a fly is being crushed, the first bodily door adverting does not avert the life-continuum, because there is no existence of anything being thought by oneself." This is not a reason, because there is no other object being thought of apart from the object of the life-continuum, and when other consciousnesses are arising, the averting of the life-continuum is impossible. This might be the reason here: "They hang on to him, they cling to him, they grasp him" (M.N. 3.248), according to this saying, karma and so on must appear only in the three javana moments that have not arisen. For it is by the arising of many javana moments that clinging and grasping occur. Therefore, without averting the bodily door adverting, only the mental door adverting averts the first life-continuum, which has karma and so on as its object. Then, because of the strength of touch, in the second moment, the body-consciousness process arises with the present touch. Then, after the mental door javana has run in sequence through the karma and so on that were grasped in the previous javana moments, it descends into the life-continuum, which is called the root life-continuum or the adventitious life-continuum, which is the resultant of that object. Or, if there is no such resultant, it is just the life-continuum. He dies at this point, meaning with the death-consciousness immediately after that resultant, that or in the absence of an object, one passes away with the bhavanga-consciousness, which is the death-consciousness. Indeed, the bhavanga itself becomes the death-consciousness and then operates; thus, the death-consciousness here is called "bhavanga." The object of the mind-door is light, and referring to its light manifestation, it is said, "of formless phenomena... ...light." For the object of the mind-door of a formless phenomenon is a light manifestation. And by showing that consciousness first arises in the mind-door object, such as kamma, without arising in the strong body-door object of a form phenomenon, the lightness of the object of formless phenomena is indicated. Or even in the absence of an object for forms, the phrase "of formless phenomena" should be understood as intended to show those for whom an object exists. Therefore, the lightness of the object is due to its easy graspability, from the arising of consciousness in light kammas and so on. The varieties of kamma and so on are infinite in detail, based on the arising of consciousness in different planes, and so on; therefore, it says "in brief." The arising of kamma and so on occurs only when defilements like ignorance and craving are not eradicated, and because of this, the continuum of consciousness is inclined, bent towards another existence; thus, it says, "bent by the power of uneradicated defilements." For when the continuum is bent, the rebirth-consciousness, which is a part of it, is also bent. And there is no bending of the continuum without a part of it being bent. However, everywhere it is determined: "For a rebirth inclined to a bad destination, the preceding javanas are unwholesome; for the other, they are wholesome." It is said: "Or, monks, consciousness, if it stands, stands clinging to the taste of the sign, or clinging to the taste of the accessory characteristic. If at that time one dies, it is possible that one may be reborn in one of two destinations: either hell or the animal realm." Therefore, proximate unwholesome kamma is a strong condition for rebirth in a bad destination, and wholesome kamma for a good destination. An inferior object, which is the cause of lust and so on, is an undesirable object, suitable to be the object of unwholesome result. That too, Yes, by way of intention, it is also a cause of lust. The inferiority is the causal nature of lust, etc., which are conascent with actions that generate unwholesome results, or conascent with volitions of similar proximate death-javanas. For that, it would be an object of actions that cause later regret, and by way of action, it would be an undesirable object of unwholesome results. Otherwise, the result of unwholesome action, which occurred with a desirable object, would not be an object of the action-sign. For an unwholesome result cannot be a desirable object. And in the five doors, the present action-sign that comes into range is to be seen as similar to what arises in the continuum of objects of proximate actions. Otherwise, that very thing would present itself as the object of rebirth, and that very thing would be the generator of rebirth. And the javanas proximate to death, which occur as if they were preparatory to rebirth, and as if they were not providing an object for rebirth, saying, "You should proceed in this," would not be generators of rebirth. For it is said, "Because they are done, because they are accumulated." And how could those, occurring as if in the same thought-process, be done and accumulated then? Nor were they tasted then. Nor are worldly results like the results of the same thought-process as the supramundane. "Or a bad action, which leads to painful feeling, was done by him before, or a bad action, which leads to painful feeling, was done by him afterwards, or at the time of death, he had wrong view, fully adopted and undertaken. Because of that, with the breaking up of the body, after death, he reappears in a state of woe, a bad destination, a downfall, hell." In this Sutta, the giving of rebirth by volition conascent with wrong view or right view, fully adopted and undertaken at the time of death, is stated. But wrong view or right view is not fully adopted and undertaken by weak five-door javanas. And it will be said: "All this work, from the discernment of wholesome and unwholesome phenomena to the end of the javanas, occurs only with mind-door consciousness, not with five-door." for the doing of all that work the co-arising javana-process-thoughts are rejected.” For there it is said: “He does not fully know any dhamma, meaning, ‘Mind is the forerunner of all dhammas’ thus spoken, he does not fully know even one wholesome or unwholesome dhamma.” The occurrence of their full comprehension, by which happiness or suffering follows, that occurrence is rejected in the five doors. And the undertaking of wholesome and unwholesome kamma is likewise. But immediately after that object, the decease, and immediately after that, the rebirth, are only mind-door processes, not included in the co-arising javana-process-thought. With this intention, here, immediately after the five-door tadārammaṇa, decease, and immediately after that, rebirth, are spoken of, so it should be understood. There, referring to rebirth arising in a rūpa-object with five remaining thought-moments of life, it is said: “The rebirth-thought with a present object is a condition by way of immediate contiguity for the bhavaṅga with a present object.” And referring to rebirth arising with one remaining thought-moment of life, it is said: “The rebirth-thought with a present object is a condition by way of immediate contiguity for the bhavaṅga with a past object.” This should be understood. “Purely” means a javana-process with a kamma-sign object of the higher planes, devoid of tadārammaṇa. That javana-process should be seen as the approach to the vipāka of the higher planes. Some, however, say that process ends with the higher planes. With a past object, there are eleven kinds. With an unstateable object, there are seven kinds. According to this method, rebirth immediately after decease in the immaterial planes should also be understood. Why is this said? Is not this rebirth also included in such cases as “one who has attained a happy destiny in the higher planes by means of earth-kasiṇa meditation, etc.”? No, because there, rebirth is spoken of only as immediately after decease in the rūpa-planes. For there it is said: “The sign of earth-kasiṇa, etc., or the higher thought, or comes to the mind-door. Or of the eye and ear, and so on, it is understood that rebirth immediately after a rūpa-realm death is stated. Even if, by appropriate connection, this rebirth is also restricted there, there is no rūpa-realm rebirth immediately after an arūpa-realm death. And in the arūpa-realm, with death in higher states, rebirth is in lower states, so there is no rebirth with an unmentionable object after the fourth arūpa-realm death. Therefore, to show this distinction, that rebirth there has a past object, and in the kāma-realm, a past or present object, and other arūpa-realm rebirths, as appropriate, have past or unmentionable objects, and kāma-realm rebirths have past or present objects, a separate explanation is given. Thus, based on the object, from one kind of kāma-realm happy-destiny death, two kinds of unhappy-destiny rebirths; from unhappy-destiny death, two kinds of happy-destiny rebirths; from kāma-realm happy-destiny death, five kinds of happy-destiny rebirths due to kāma, rūpa, and arūpa, of two, one, and two types respectively; and from rūpa-realm death, likewise five kinds; and from two kinds of arūpa-realm death, eight kinds of rebirths