________________ 52 Introduction question, for instance, may arise regarding the nature of a gross or subtle nama-khandha, or about the precise meaning of the term atita. These explanations are given in the Sb. and expanded in the commentary, It is said here that an akusalavedana is gross compared to a kusala-vedana The letter is subtle compared to the former. Buddhaghosa gives several conflicting views on these explanations. Several controversies on this topic are also preserved in the Bhashya. The gross and subtle rupa are explained in both schools as sapratigha and apratigha. But in the case of nama-skandhas, where the concepts of gross or subtle are out of place, the explanations are different. The Vaibhashikas explain that in the case of nama-skandhas those which have the five organs as their base are gross; the mind-consciousness and its concomitants are subtle, or alternatively, the kamavachara nama-skandhas are gross .compared to the rupavachara skandhas, etc 3 The latter explanation agrees with the Pali Abhidhamma.. As regards the term atita and its precise meaning, the Atthakatha says that this term may refer to past in general (addhana) or to a particular unit consisting of a series of moments (santati) or to a certain period (samaya) or only to a single moment (khana). The first three meanings are obtained in a conventional preaching, i.e. in the Suttas. In the Abhidhamma, however, only the last explanation is valid as it is a 'paramattha-desana The Abhidhamma treatment of the same topic, there. fore, differs from the simpler and shorter Sutta exposition. Here the five khandhas are in the manner of the Dhammasangani, subjected to a minute analysis of their relations and functions in a momentary existence. They are presented here in several long categories grouped in their ascending numerical order combined with each heading of the 122 Matika list. 1 Vbh. p. 10. 2 Vbh. A. p. 15. 3 Sako. p. 44. 4 Vbh.jA. pp. 7-8.
