Dhamma Wheel Buddhist Forum

Hanzze wrote:Very important topic, I am looking forward to see much support here from Abhidhamma profis.

Out of scholar meassures:

One needs to come in contact with the good teachings (even being remembered), one needs to investigate in it seriously and one needs to observe the taught by one self. So much mindfullness is required.

(A) 3 and (B) 3: The Stark Ignorance of Causality (Paccaya-sammoha) and the Third Light
(Paccaya-vavatthana--nana) Knowledge in Comprehending the Law of Causality.

I shall now set forth the third pair - Paccava-sammoha and Paccaya-vavatthana-nana. Of these
Paccaya-sammoha means:-

21. Not understanding the origin of materiality-and-mentality.
22. Not understanding the Law of Dependent Origination (paticca-samuppada) [5], as
declared by the Buddha: "With Ignorance (avijja) as condition, there arise Volitional
Activities (sankhara); with volitional activities as condition, there arises Consciousness
(vinnana); with consciousness as condition, there arise Mentality-and-Materiality (namarupa;
... (P:) thus there arises this 'whole mass of ills' dukkhakkhandha."

When one is ignorant of this Law of Causality, one firmly holds the wrong view of karaka-ditthi,
insisting that if there is an action there is a doer, so that materiality and mentality cannot be seen
as distinct phenomena or dhamma, but as some person or being.[6]

Paccaya-vavatthana-nana: (The Third Light)

Knowledge in comprehending the Law of Causality means:-
w. Understanding the origin of materiality-and-mentality.
x. Understanding the twelve constituents (anga) that make up the Law of Dependent
Origination as declared by the Buddha thus: "With Ignorance as condition, there arise
Volitional Activities; with volitional activities as condition, there arises Consciousness; ...
mentality and materiality; ... the six Sense-Bases (salayatana); ... Contact (phassa); ...
Feeling (vedana), ... Craving (tanha), ... Clinging (upadana); ... the Process of Becoming
(bhava); ... Birth (jati), ... Ageing and Death (jara-marana), Sorrow (soka), Lamentation
(parideva), Pain, Suffering (dukkha), Grief (domanassa), and Despair (upayasa). Thus
there arises this 'whole mass of ills' (dukkhakkhandha)" [7].
Out of the Stark Ignorance of Causality, three kinds of grave Wrong Views arise, namely:

. The Wrong View of No-cause (A-hetuka ditthi)[8]

i. The Wrong View that the world is created by an Eternal God (visamahetuditthi)[9].
ii. The Wrong View that the world is a product of past deeds (pubbekata hetuditthi)[10].
iii. Ahetuka ditthi holds that all things in the world, whether physical phenomena or mental
phenomena, arise through no cause, exist through no cause, that all things happen by mere chance.
iv. Visamehetu ditthi believes in a cause but it assigns the cause to an Omnipotent
Creator, an Eternal God or Providence. All beings, all physical and mental
phenomena, all things, all activities, all happenings are in accordance with
Providence. This is in fact baseless, untenable, uneven or unjust.
v. Pubbekata hetu ditthi believes in reasoned Cause and, while rejecting the theory
of a Creator, accepts the view that the world (i.e., all materiality and mentality)
arises, and is conditioned by wholesome and unwholesome actions done by beings
in their past existences. This view takes into account only past kamma, in total
disregard of present volitional activities.
Of these three Wrong Views, Ahetuka ditthi is a gross view, as indeed is Visama hetu
ditthi. Pubbekata hetu ditthi, being partially correct, is relatively less erroneous.
How Pubbekata hetu ditthi is partially right:-
Materiality and mentality are conditioned by:-

y. Past kamma,
z. present consciousness or citta,

aa. temperature prevailing at present (utu), and
bb. nutriment in the present life (ahara).

That being so, this view is correct in so far as it relates to materiality and mentality which arise on
account of past kamma; but as regards all other materiality and mentality caused by
Consciousness, Temperature or Nutriment it is wrong.

If we apply the Law of Dependent Origination this view holds good for those factors which are
conditioned by past kamma[11]. but it is wrong in respect of those which are themselves the
present causes (that are the 'conditions for rebirth-linking in the future')[12], namely, Ignorance,
Volitional Activities, Craving, Clinging and the Process of Becoming. If we consider it in the
light of the Doctrine of Relations (Patthana), this view recognizes only the relationship of past
kamma to its effects (nanakkhanika kamma paccaya) and rejects the twenty-three other Relations
as also the Relation of Co-nascent or Co-existent kamma (sahajata kamma paccaya)[13]. Thus
Pubbekatahetuditthi, while partially right, is substantially wrong.

The above mentioned three kinds of Wrong View, together with all sorts of other false views and
Sceptical Doubt (vicikiccha) spring from the Stark Ignorance of Causality.

Cula-sotapanna or the Virtuous One

To understand Dependent Origination or to gain Knowledge in comprehending the Law of
Causality enables one to discard the three aforesaid Wrong Views of No-cause, Unjustified Cause
of Creation, and misleading belief in past-kamma alone. In fact this Knowledge equips one to be a
virtuous one, ever freed from the ignoble destinies of the Four Lower Worlds, a Cula-sotapanna,
a future-stream-winner' - so the Commentaries say. Hence a goal well worth striving for.

(Here ends the exposition of the third pair - Stark Ignorance of Causality and the Third Light.)