Dialogues of the Buddha, Part II — trans. T. W. and C. A. F. Rhys Davids (1910)
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The translator’s English as printed (T. W. and C. A. F. Rhys Davids). The original-language text is not held; names are romanised as the translator printed them.
. . . exponents ' of ' name ' are not physical expressions, but the processes of subjective consciousness, — feelings, perceptions, &c. The consciousness, bent back upon itself — pi//^iva//aka hutva — refoidee stir soi-vmne — gives the name to what it finds. The modes, &c, of ' form ' are the modes of sensation, by which ' form manifests itself to the mind, — 'at the mind-door,' as the Cy. has it.
2 See Dh. S., translation, p. 172, n. 1, 183, n. 1.
3 i. e. of this twofold contact, as the Cy. points out, of mental object with mind-activity or mind, and of sense-object with sense-organ. Cf. Dh. S., §§ 3-5, and translation, p. 5, n. 2. The former mode of contact is there called ceto-samphasso, manovinfia;/adhatusamphasso.
The Cy. sums up the relation between namarupa and phasso as follows : — In the channels of the five senses, sight, hearing, &c, by
p. 60
21. 'I have said that cognition is the cause of nameand form [63]. Now in what way that is so, Ananda, is to be understood after this manner. Were cognition not to descend ] into the mother's womb, would nameand-form become constituted therein 2 ? '
' It would not, lord.'
' Were cognition, after having descended l into the mother's womb, to become extinct, would name-andform come to birth in this state of being ? '
• It would not, lord.'
' Were cognition to be extirpated from one yet young, means of visual and other objects, are the ' form,' while the [other four] skandhas, brought into relation therewith, are the ' name.' Thus in a fivefold way is name-and-form the cause of contact. Moreover in the channel of the sixth sense (ma no, ideation) its physical basis, — the heart — as well as such corporeal form as becomes its mental object, constitute ' form,' while the related states of consciousness induced, as well as such incorporeal form as becomes its mental object, constitute incorporeal form. Thus in saying that name-and-form is the cause of contact, we must also include contact that is mental (i.e. of ideas). Name-and-form is therefore in many ways the cause of contact. (On the heart, see Dh. S., translation, p. lxxviii; Pras. Up. HI, i, 5.)
1 The animistic implication adhering to this term (okkamissatha; ava, down-f- \/kram, stride) would of course have no significance for Buddhist doctrine. Accordingly it is, in the Cy., paraphrased as follows : — ' having entered, so to speak, and staying (vattamanarh = the Latin idiom, versatum est), by means of conception, were not to keep going on.' The contradictory term, vokkamissatha, 'become extinct,' rendered by Warren 'go away again,' is paraphrased nirujjhissatha, and only signifies that the advent is in some way annulled. There is no conception of cognition, as a unity, descending from outside into the womb like a ball into a bag. At Sawyutta V, 283 we are told of happiness descending on a man, and at Mil. 299 of drowsiness descending into or on to a man. So okkantika piti is a standing expression for a particular sort of joy. In each of these cases the bliss, or drowsiness, or joy is supposed to develop from within ; and so also here of cognition.
2 Samucchissatha, derived by Dr. Konow (J. P. T.S., 1908) from sam+ \Anurch, to thicken, and by him and Warren rendered 'to be consolidated.' So also Cldenberg 'Buddha5,' p. 259; and Windisch, ' Buddha's Geburt,' p. 39. The Cy. has kalaladi-bhavena . . . missibhuta/zz hutva, 'become mixed with the embryo in its different stages.'
D. ii. 64. THE GREAT DISCOURSE ON CAUSATION. 6 1
youth or maiden, would name-and-form attain to growth, development, expansion ? ' It would not, lord.'