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B040101Visuddhimagga(purification path treatise)

English

or the body according to the mind, and when creating one's own form as a young boy, and so on, it becomes an internal object, due to making one's own body and mind the object. But when seeing external things like elephants, horses, and so on, it is an external object. Thus, the operation of the knowledge of psychic power in seven kinds of objects should be understood. 415. The knowledge of the divine ear element operates in four kinds of objects: limited, present, internal, and external. How? For since it makes sound its object, and sound is limited, therefore it is a limited object. It is. And because it arises by making an existing sound its object, it is a present object. When one hears the sound from one's own belly, it is an internal object. When one hears the sound of others, it is an external object. Thus, the operation of the divine ear element knowledge in the four types of objects should be understood. 416. The knowledge of discerning others' minds operates in eight types of objects: limited, exalted, immeasurable, path, past, future, present, and external. How? When it knows the sense-sphere minds of others, it is a limited object. When it knows the form-sphere and formless-sphere minds, it is an exalted object. When it knows the path and fruition minds, it is an immeasurable object. Here, a worldling does not know the mind of a stream-enterer. Nor does a stream-enterer know that of a once-returner, and so on, up to an Arahant. But an Arahant knows the minds of all. And this distinction should be understood: the higher one knows the mind of the lower one. When the object is a path-mind, it is a path-object. But when it knows the minds of others within seven days in the past and within seven days in the future, then it is a past object and a future object. How is it a present object? The present is of three kinds: momentary present, continuity present, and period present. Among these, that which has reached arising, standing, and ceasing is the momentary present. That which is included in one or two continuities or turns is the continuity present. For example, one who has sat in darkness and gone to a place of light, the object is not yet clear until it becomes clear; in this interval, one or two turns of continuity should be understood. Similarly, for one who has walked in a place of light and entered a room, the form is not yet immediately clear until it becomes clear; in this interval, one or two turns of continuity should be understood. And standing at a distance, even seeing the hand gestures of washermen or the striking gestures of gongs and drums, one does not yet hear the sound until one hears it; in this interval too, one or two turns of continuity should be understood. Thus far, the Middle Reciters. The Connected Reciters, however, having said that there are two continuities, the continuity of form and the continuity of mind, say: As long as the line of water where one has stepped after crossing water does not clear on the bank, as long as the warmth in the body of one who has come from a journey does not subside, as long as the darkness does not disappear for one who has come from the sun and entered a room, as long as the trembling of the eyes does not subside for one who, having focused on a meditation subject inside a room, opens a window during the day and looks out— this is called the continuity of form. Two or three moments of impulsion are called the continuity of mind. Having said this, they say that both of these are called present by continuity. However, what is confined to one existence is called present by duration. Regarding this, it is said in the Bhaddekaratta Sutta: "And, friend, the mind and the mental states— both of these are present. If consciousness is bound by lust and craving in that present, because consciousness is bound by lust and craving, it delights in that; delighting in that, it is entangled in present phenomena." Here, the present by continuity is found in the commentaries. The present by duration is in the Sutta. Some there say that the momentary present mind is the object of the knowledge of discerning others' minds. For what reason? Because the mind of one with psychic power and the mind of another arise at the same moment. And this is their simile: Just as when a handful of flowers is thrown into the air, one flower will certainly pierce another stem to stem, so too, when one attends to the minds of many people with the intention of knowing another's mind, one mind will certainly pierce another mind at the moment of arising, or at the moment of abiding, or at the moment of dissolution. However, even if one attends for a hundred years or a thousand years, the mind by which one attends and the mind by which one knows— because these two do not arise together, and because of the fault of attending and impulsion having different objects in an undesirable situation— this is not appropriate, it is rejected in the commentaries. mind. It should be understood that the object is both continuously present and temporally present. Therein, whatever mind of another is within the time of two or three javana-sequences in the past or future from the current javana-sequence, all of that is called continuously present. "However, the temporally present should be explained by the javana-moment," it is said in the Saṃyutta Commentary. That is well said. Herein is the explanation: An adept, desiring to know the mind of another, attends. The attention, having made the momentary present its object, ceases together with it. Then, four or five javanas arise. Of these, the last is the adept's mind, the others are sensuous. For all of these, that very ceased mind is the object. And they are not of different objects, because they have a temporally present object. Even though they have one object, only the adept's mind knows the mind of another, not the others. Just as at the eye-door, only eye-consciousness sees form, not the others. Thus, this has a present object by way of the continuously present and the temporally present. Or, since the continuously present also falls into the temporally present, it should be understood that this is a present object by way of the temporally present. However, because it has the mind of another as its object, it is an external object. Thus, the activity of the knowledge of others' minds among the eight objects should be understood. 417. The knowledge of previous existences operates among eight objects by way of limited, exalted, immeasurable, path, past, internal, external, and unmentionable objects. How? When recollecting sensuous aggregates, it has a limited object. When recollecting form-sphere and formless-sphere aggregates, it has an exalted object. When recollecting the path developed or the fruit realized by oneself or others in the past, it has an immeasurable object. When recollecting only the developed path, it has a path object. However, it is definitely a past object. Therein, although the knowledge of others' minds and the knowledge of the destiny of deeds Knowledges are also past-objected. But for the knowledge of penetrating minds, the mind itself, past within seven days, is the object. For it does not know any other aggregate or anything connected with aggregates. But because its object is a mind associated with the path, it is said to have the path as its object by implication. And for the knowledge of knowing beings' destinies according to their kamma, only past volition is the object. But for the knowledge of recollection of past lives, there is nothing past, whether aggregates or connected with aggregates, that is not an object. For it moves in past aggregates and things connected with aggregates, like the knowledge of omniscience; this distinction should be understood. This is the commentary's method here. But since it is said in the Paṭṭhāna: "Wholesome aggregates are a condition by way of object-condition for the knowledge of psychic powers, for the knowledge of penetrating minds, for the knowledge of recollection of past lives, for the knowledge of knowing beings' destinies according to their kamma, for the knowledge of future events." Therefore, all four aggregates are objects for the knowledge of penetrating minds and the knowledge of knowing beings' destinies according to their kamma. And there, for the knowledge of knowing beings' destinies according to their kamma, only wholesome and unwholesome aggregates are objects. When recollecting one's own aggregates, this is an internal object. When recollecting another's aggregates, it is an external object. When recollecting names, lineages, earth-signs, etc., in the manner of "In the past, Vipassī, the Blessed One, existed. His mother was Bandhumatī, his father Bandhumā," it becomes an object that cannot be classified. Here, "name and lineage" should be understood as a conventional, descriptive meaning bound to aggregates, not as mere expression. For expression, being included in the sound-base, is limited. As it is said, "The analytical knowledge of language has limited objects." This is our acceptance here. Thus, the occurrence of the knowledge of recollection of past lives in eight types of objects should be understood. 418. The divine eye knowledge operates in four types of objects: limited, present, internal, and external. How? For since it makes form its object, and form is limited, therefore it has a limited object. And only when existing It operates on present objects, because it occurs in forms. When seeing one's own internal forms, it is an internal object. When seeing another's forms, it is an external object. Thus, the operation of the divine eye knowledge on four types of objects should be understood. 419. The knowledge of future events operates on eight types of objects: limited, exalted, immeasurable, path, future, internal, external, and inexpressible. How? When it knows, "This one will be reborn in the sense-sphere in the future,"