Jewels from the treasury vasubandhus ( (60)

YOUTHFUL PLAY * AREA IV environments and inhabitants o f various happy and wretched, good and bad worlds are born II Understanding karma itself This has three topics: A Identifying karma, B The presentation o f karma, and C The meaning o f karma as explained in the sutras A Identifying karma This has three points Classifying karma in two lb Volition and what that creates W hat is karma like? you ask If you classify it, there are two types: volitional karma and w hat th at volition creates, intended karma This is because it is said in the sutras, “Karma is twofold: volitional and intended karma.” Intended karma is also classified in two, so there are three types Their individual essences led Volition is mental karma, which Creates the karma of body and speech O f those three, the mental factor volition is the m ental karma T hat which volition creates, intended karma, is the karm a o f body and the karma of speech Perceptible or imperceptible karma 2a Those two are percepts and impercepts Those two, karma of body and speech, are the perceptible karma o f body, the imperceptible karma of body, and the perceptible and imperceptible karmas of speech B The presentation of karma This has three topics: Classifying karma in two, The presentation o f general features of the three karmas, and The presentation o f imperceptible karma 294 THE PRESENTATION OF KARMA Classifying karma in two This has two topics: a Perceptible, and b Im ­ perceptible a Perceptible This has two points: i Perceptible o f body, and ii Perceptible of speech i Perceptible of body This has three points (1) Identifying its essence according to the Great Exposition tradition 2b Bodily perceptible is shape W hen the m ind thinks, “I will prostrate,” bodily perceptible action, such as prostrating and joining one s palms, is proposed to be shape (2) Refuting the doubts of the VatsiputrTya school 2cd It is not movement, since composites Are momentary, as they perish 3ab Nothing can happen without cause The cause would become the destroyer Followers of the Vatsiputrlya school agree that some composites such as rain­ storms or flames are m om entary but mostly not assert mom entary imper­ manence Therefore perceptible actions of body are not im perm anent because they are actions that move the body from one location to another They are not unmoving actions, they say This is illogical It, karma or action of the body, is not movement to another location without ceasing since it is composite, like cognition and so forth To prove that this is pervasively true, all composites are without a doubt m om en­ tary phenom ena that are destroyed immediately upon arising, as w ithout a doubt they immediately perish independent o f other causes or conditions The disintegration of composites does not depend upon some other cause be­ cause nothing that depends upon a cause can happen w ithout a cause, but lightning and so on are directly seen to perish without any cause at all In that case, some things such as lightning are like that, but we can see that hammers and such are the cause of the destruction of clay jugs and so forth, you say If that were so, the cause of the red color of a clay jug that is heated, fire, would become the destroyer of the red color o f the heated jug: it would follow that the creator was also the destroyer 95 YOUTHFUL PLAY * AREA IV (3) The tradition of the Sutra school 3c Two would perceive it; not in particles The Sutra school holds that shape does not exist substantially, because when it is destroyed, there is no m ind that perceives it, just as with a vase If shape were to exist, the two faculties of body and eye would both perceive it, because the eye would see shape directly and know it, and also when the body faculty touches it, a cognition that thinks “long” or so forth would occur O ne cannot agree, because then it would be senseless to have multiple faculties, and the correspondence between the sense bases and substances would be weakened Any existing obstructive form at all must exist in the atoms that are aggre­ gated Long and other such shapes not substantially exist, because there is no t any such thing in the particles, because atoms have no parts At this point, there are many arguments and counter-arguments between the Great Exposition and Sutra schools, but I shall not go into them here ii Perceptible of speech 3d Perceptible speech is speech’s sound The perceptible karma of speech is speech’s sound— sound that has the nature of speech— because it makes the desire that motivates the speaker to talk per­ ceptible to others b Imperceptible forms This has two topics: i Proof they exist substantially, and ii Presentation o f their features i Proof they exist substantially 4ab Three kinds and stainless form are taught; Increase; and paths not done; et cetera The Sutra school says that imperceptible forms not substantially exist This is because they are merely promises not to something any more from this time forward until forfeited which are merely given the label imperceptible form; because they are designated based upon the past sources, but the past sources not exist in essence; and because they not fulfill the character­ istics o f form The Great Exposition school says that imperceptible forms exist substan­ tially As proof o f this, a sutra says: 29 THE PRESENTATION OF KARMA The three types o f form include all forms There is form that is showable and obstructive There is also form that is not showable but is obstructive There is also form that is neither showable nor obstructive Thus imperceptible forms exist because three kinds of form are taught A sutra also says: These forms for which greed or anger not arise are called undefiled dharmas Thus it is also proven because stainless form is taught, and without imper­ ceptible forms it would not be logical for there to be such forms If it is one o f the seven material merits or the seven immaterial merits, the merit increases greatly.171 The seven material merits are: To give a monastery or a temple, A bed, or sustenance continuously, A passing guest, or nursing for the sick O r generosity in times of darkness: These are the seven material merits The seven immaterial merits are: To hear he172 dwells or plans to come or else Has embarked upon the road, arrived; to see him, To hear the Dharma, hold the basic precepts: If these should make true faith and joy arise, These are the seven immaterial merits Additionally, it would follow that the karmic paths n ot done by oneself but that one incites others to would not exist because there is no imperceptible form The phrase “et cetera” means that imperceptible forms exist also because it is taught that there is form in the sense base of dharmas, because the eight­ fold noble path is taught, and because it is taught that vows obstruct immoral­ ity like a dike and water There are many additional proofs, so imperceptible form is proven to exist At this point, there are many refutations, presentations, and positions from others, including the Yogic Action, Sutra school, Dàrstàntika, earlier masters, the venerable elders o f the Great Exposition, the Master, and so forth These appear in the Tïka 97 YOUTHFUL PLAY * AREA IV ii Presentation of their features This has four topics: (1) T he features of their cause, (2) o f their level, (3) o f their essence, and (4) O ther attributes of their cause (1) The features of their cause This has two points (a) Attributes of the cause of the first moment A small num ber o f the present and future forms that act as causes arise from the past sources In the first m om ent o f an imperceptible form o f Desire— at the time of swearing a vow or so forth— the sources of the basis and the sources o f the support are both coemergent sources of the present imperceptible (b) Attributes of the cause of subsequent moments 4cd In subsequent moments, the impercepts O f Desire are born from the past sources In subsequent m om ents, the imperceptible forms o f Desire are born from the sources of the basis, past sources, and the present sources o f the bodily support (2) The features of their level This has two points (a) Attributes on the defiled levels 5ab Stained karmas o f the body and speech Take their own sources as a cause The sources o f which level function as their cause? you ask The imperceptible forms o f stained or defiled karmas o f the body and speech from the Desire realm up to the fourth dhyana take their own levels sources as a cause (b) Attributes on the undefiled levels 5c The undefiled, o f where it arises.173 Undefiled forms take the four sources o f the support o f the level where they arise If the undefiled vow is attained on the support of a Desire-realm body, its great sources also must arise or originate out o f the sources of the Desire 298 ... These appear in the Tïka 97 YOUTHFUL PLAY * AREA IV ii Presentation of their features This has four topics: (1 ) T he features of their cause, (2 ) o f their level, (3 ) o f their essence, and (4 )... Desire are born from the sources of the basis, past sources, and the present sources o f the bodily support (2 ) The features of their level This has two points (a) Attributes on the defiled levels... their essence, and (4 ) O ther attributes of their cause (1 ) The features of their cause This has two points (a) Attributes of the cause of the first moment A small num ber o f the present and future