Dialogues of the Buddha, Part II — trans. T. W. and C. A. F. Rhys Davids (1910)

1 Tattha bhavatiti bhavo. ' Here bhavo means one becomes' (so the Vis. Mag. opens its comment) — not atthi, one is. Burnouf, Oldenberg, Warren all choose ' existence.' Winternitz (' Religionsgeschichtliches Lesebuch,' p. 236) has Dasein. But the mobile, plastic, evolutionary thing, ever in progress, that life appears as conceived by the Indian, fits ills in the more rigid Western metaphysic of Being. As Buddhist sponsors, possibly also as philosophers, we lost much when we dropped weortha?i for becumen, and may envy our German colleagues with their Werden (see Mrs. Rh. D. in 'Buddhism,' March, 1904, pp. 389, 390; Rangoon). Moreover, according to the Vibhanga (p. 137) the bhava which is the cause of birth is not only uppattibhavo,-— the becoming which is 'coming into sentient being' of some sort — but also kammabhavo, or the generating of effective actions, effective in good or bad results, or in result which is ' beyond good and bad,' viz. meritorious activity, demeritorious activity, and ' unmoved ' or ' static activity ' (anenjabhisankharo). ' Existence ' fits here still worse.

2 These three exhausted, for the Buddhist, the living universe. See
Dh. S., §§ 1281-6 (Trans., p. 334).

s Upadana. See preceding Suttanta, II, 18, and the note there.

p. 54

whatever, would there, owing to this cessation of grasping, be any appearance of becoming ? '

' There would not, lord.'

' Wherefore, Ananda, just that is the ground, the basis, the genesis, the cause of becoming, to wit, grasping.

7. ' I have said that craving 1 is the cause of grasping. Now in what way that is so, Ananda, is to be understood after this manner. Were there no craving of any sort or kind whatever by an)- one for anything — that is to say, no craving for sights, sounds, odours, tastes, tangibles or ideas — then there being no craving whatever, would there, owing to this cessation of craving, be any appearance of grasping ? '

' There wouldA not, lord.'

' Wherefore, Ananda, just that is the ground, that is the basis, the genesis, the cause of grasping, to wit, craving.

8. ' I have said that sensation - is the cause of craving. Now in what way that is so, Ananda, is to be understood after this manner. Were there no sensation of any sort or kind whatever in any one for anything, that is to say, no sensations born of impressions received by way of sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch, or imagination, — then there being no sensation whatever, would there, owing to this cessation of sensation, be any appearance of craving ? '

1 Tawha. Usually translated 'thirst,' but not used to express physical thirst in the Pi/akas. Dr. Neumann sometimes uses the equivalent (to craving) — Begier. Winternitz has Gier.

2 Vedana, which is usually, in the Pi/akas, resolved into feeling, pleasurable, painful, neutral, is here explained in terms of sensereaction to contact. Now the term ' feeling,' in its widest psychological meaning (namely, as consisting essentially in our being affected or acted upon), is able to bear this connotation as well as the more emotional aspect. But since we have the alternative term ' sensation,' since Buddhaghosa himself emphasizes the different aspect: dvarato vedana vutta (' the vedana mentioned refers to sense,' Vis. Mag.), — and since other translators are unanimous in using ' sensation,' this rendering is followed here. In Sum. Vil., Buddhaghosa characterizes the term in this passage as vipaka-vcdana, 'resultant vedana.'

p. 55

' There would not, lord.'

'Wherefore, Ananda, just that is the ground, the basis, the genesis, the cause of craving, to wit, sensation.'

9. ' Thus it is, Ananda, that craving ' comes into being because of sensation, pursuit because of craving, gain because of pursuit, decision 2 because of gain, desire and passion '• because of decision, tenacity because of desire and passion, possession because of tenacity, avarice 4 because of possession, watch and ward because of avarice, [59] and many a bad and wicked state of things arising from keeping watch and ward over possessions :• — blows and wounds, strife, contradiction and retort, quarrelling 5, slander and lies.