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MAHÂVAGGA.
I, 1, 3.
khâras ?, from the samkhâras springs Consciousness, from Consciousness spring Name-and-Form, from Name-and-Form spring the six Provinces (of the
not to know the Cessation of suffering, not to know the Path which leads to the cessation of suffering, this is called Ignorance. The same is repeated in the explanation of the nidána formula, which is given in the Vibhanga (Abhidhamma-Pitaka, Palikkasamuppâdavibhanga, fol. ki of the Phayre MS.), and we must accept it, therefore, as the authentic expression of Buddhistical belief. It is obvious, however, that this explanation leaves room for another question. Ignorance, we are told, is the source of all evil and of all suffering, and the subject ignored is stated to be the four Truths. But who is the subject that ignores them? All attributes (as the viññana, &c.), that constitute sentient beings and enable them to know or to ignore, are said to be first produced by Ignorance, and we should conclude, therefore, that they cannot exist before Ignorance has begun to act. Or are we to understand that it is the Ignorance incurred by a sentient being in a preceding existence, that causes the samkhâras and Consciousness, the connecting links between the different existences, to act and to bring about the birth of a new being ?
As is well known, this Ignorance (A vidya) plays a great part also in the Brahmanical philosophy of the Upanishads, and the Buddhist belief is, no doubt, founded to a considerable extent on older theories. But we cannot venture in a note to touch upon one of the most difficult and interesting questions which await the research of Indianists.
It is very frequently stated that there are three samkhâras or productions : kâyasamkhâra, vakîsamk hâra, and kittasamkhâra, or, productions of body, of speech, and of thought (see, for instance, the Sammâditthisuttanta, Magghima-Nikâya, fol. khû of Turnour's MS.) The kâyasamkhâra consists, according to the Samkhara-Yamaka (Abhidhamma-Pitaka), in inhalation and expiration (assâsapassâsâ); the vakîsamk hâra in attention and investigation (vitakka vikârâ); the kittasamk hâra in ideas, sensations, and all attributes of mind except attention and investigation (sañ ñã ka vedana ka tha petva vitakka vikâre sabbe pi kittasampayuttakâ dhammâ). The Vibhanga (AbhidhammaPitaka, Patikkasamuppâdavibhanga, 1.1.) gives, when discussing the samkhâras, six categories instead of the three: 'Now which are
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