________________ 111 6. Kusala-dharma-bija 6. Kusala-dharma-bija Although the Theravadins do not recognise this Sautrantika theory of bija, there is substantial evidence pointing to its origin in the suttas. The Ang. nikaya contains a long sutta dealing with the operation of kusala and akusala-mulas in six kinds of persons. In the case of the first three of these persons a comparison is made with good or bad seed (bija) sown in a fertile or stony field. In the case of the first person for instance, it is said : "There is a person endowed with kusala as well as akusala dharmas. In course of time his kusala dharmas disappear, and akusala dharmas appear. But since his kusala-mulas are not completely annihilated, new kusala dharmas appear from that (unannihilated) kusala-mula. Thus this person becomes in future one who does not fall (from the holi life). His kusala is comparable to whole seeds (akhanda bija) sown in a cultivated fertile field, capable of yielding abundant fruit." 2 This Scripture is favourable to the Sautrantika theory of bija. It supports his contention that the kusala and akusala co-exist in the form of seeds which give rise in a subsequent time to their corresponding kusala or akusala thoughts, and thus determine the nature of a particular santati as subject to decay or subject to growth. The Vaibhashikas also read this sutra in their Scriptures. But they maintain that it refers not to the theory of bija but to their theory of prapti. When therefore the sutra says that a person is samanvagata (endowed) with kusala and akusala dharmas, it means that he has the prapti of these dharmas. According to them samanvagama and prapti are synonyms. 4 A person cannot be endowed with kucala and akusala in one moment, because these two are samprayukta dharmas. But their prapti being viprayukta can co-exist and thus cause the rise of kusala and akusala dharmas in favourable circumstances. 1 Ang. III. pp. 404-9. Vide Ado, p. 168, n. 1. 2 Ibid. 3 Adv. p. 166. 4 Adv. p. 87.
