Exploring the Path - Pāli Course

Tenāhu porāṇā:

Kammassa kārako natthi, vipākassa ca vedako;¹

Suddhadhammā pavattanti, evetaṃ sammadassanaṃ.

Evaṃ kamme vipāke ca, vattamāne sahetuke;

Bījarukkhādikānaṃva,² pubbā koṭi³ na nāyati;⁴

Anāgatepi saṃsāre, appavattaṃ.⁵ na dissati. …⁶

This is what the Ancients say:

There is neither a doer of a deed nor one who senses the action’s result;

It is that merely phenomena just keep moving on, this is the correct way to perceive it.

In such causal ways kamma and results maintain their conditioned rounds,

As seed and tree continue in turn without any beginning known,

Nor could any end that be foretold, where future cycles of becoming would continue taking turns no more.

This course has decided, for the benefit of Vipassana meditators, to add some lessons referring to the Day 5 chanting of the 10-day meditation course of S.N. Goenka, as well as to the longer chanting recited by S.N. Goenka and his teacher Sayagyi U Ba Khin.

In the early morning of Day 5, S.N. Goenka recites the Paccayuddeso (also called Paṭṭhānamātikā) and the Paccayaniddeso of the Tikapaṭṭhāna section of the Paṭṭhānapāḷi of the Abhidhammapiṭaka. Course participants, in general, notice a different chanting meter, speed, and force as well as a benefit from the supportive atmosphere that occurs during this recitation. This distinction is especially noticeable when comparing it with the more soothing effect of the parittā recitations during the other days.⁷

The previous lessons were intended as an introduction and a short survey on the basic principles of the Abhidhamma, the universal phenomena of the ‘universal realities’ (paramatthato) and their mutual relations.8. The Paṭṭhānapāḷi is the seventh and last book of the Abhidhamma Piṭaka. This current lesson starts with a succinct description of the introduction of what is called paccayuddeso or paṭṭhānamātikā.

While the Dhammasaṅgaṇī, the first book of the Abhidhamma Piṭaka, organizes, categorizes and arranges all possible states in the various sets of triads (tika) and dyads (duka), the Paṭṭhāna undertakes to explain their possible combinations, reciprocal conditioning and interrelations. All possible interconnected relations, all mutual dependence and cause and effect are described here. This is to say a wholesome state occurs conditioned by a wholesome state through such and such conditioning, an unwholesome state occurs conditioned by an unwholesome state through such and such conditioning, etc.

That is why Paṭṭhāna (pa + ṭ + ṭhāna — lit. ‘setting forth’, ‘starting point’) is translated as ‘Law of Conditioned Relations’. These interrelations and their interdependence are scrutinized into twenty-four conditions or relations (paccayā) which relate, interdepend, interconnect and mutually support each other. The first book of the six volumes is called Tikapaṭṭhānaṃ. ⁹

Tika (ti + ka) means a group of three, a triad or triplet. The first triad consists of wholesome states (kusala dhammā), unwholesome states (akusala dhammā) and indeterminate, neutral, unclassified states (abyākata dhammā).¹⁰ The complete treatise covers the following content:

• enumeration of 24 conditions
• analytical exposition of these conditions¹¹
• questions about the interrelation of these conditions¹²
• the main treatise then replies to these questions portrayed in an exposition of 24 divisions.¹³

An initial simple overview, or introduction, is provided in the paccayuddeso or paṭṭhānamātikā, as presented in this lesson, which shows how abstract mental and material states and phenomena that arise and pass away are mutually interconnected. They constantly undergo relations of different nature that cause, effect and condition one another, as well as associate with each other, support, dominate and require each other. Two side-by-side tables are part of this lesson: one simply depicts the condition, and the longer version shows more details along with alternative translations for each paccayo and their function in short.

The Abhidhammatthasaṅgaho in the chapter Paccayaparicchedo, in its attempt to categorise these 24 conditions, provides six-fold division as follows:¹⁴

The following lessons intend to provide a concise survey about the collection of the ‘Higher Teaching’, as the Abhidhamma is often labelled.

At this point, a few thoughts of caution seem appropriate. The intention of this Pāli course (ETP) is to provide readers with the theoretical aspects of the Buddha’s teaching (pariyatti) in order to stir and inspire practice and apply what is being taught (paṭipatti). This is how the essential aspect of endorsed practice, in general, gets supported. However, it must be pointed out that adding a few lessons about an exposition of ambiguous Abhidhamma theory and ‘Higher Teaching’ entails a crucial danger. The explanations as found in the Sutta Piṭaka are, in general, easily intelligible and thus supportive for any meditator, as they can readily utilise what is being explained. But someone who has not (yet) experienced those deeper theoretical aspects can easily be led astray to mere intellectual pursuits of logic and sheer analytical, theoretical and philosophical thinking. One should always keep in mind that it is only the applied practice (paṭivedha) that enables development and provides results!¹⁵