Abhidharmakosabhasyam of Vasubandhu Volume III Translated into French by Louis de La Vallee Poussin English Version by Leo M. Pruden ASIAN HUMANITIES PRESS [An imprint of Jain Publishing Company] Web Site - www.jainpub.com CHAPTER FIVE The Latent Defilements o m. Homage to the Buddha. We said that the world, in all its variety, arises from action (iv.l).Now it is by reason of the anusayas} or latent defilements, that actions accumulate:2 in the absence of the anusayas, actions are not capable of producing a new existence. Consequently la. The roots of existence, that is, of rebirth or of action, are the anusayas1 When a klesa* or defilement enters into action, it accomplishes ten operations: 1. it makes solid its root, its prdpti—the possession that a certain person already had of the kief a (ii.36,38a)—preventing it from being broken; 2. it places itself in a series (that is, it continues to reproduce itself); 3. it accommodates its field, rendering the person (dsrava, ii.5, 6,44d) fit for the arising of the klesa; 4. it engenders its offspring, that is, the upaklesas (v.46): hatred engenders anger, etc.; 5. it leads to action; 6. it aggregates its causes, namely, incorrect judgment; 7. it causes one to be mistaken with regard to the objea of consciousness; 8. it bends the mental series towards the object or towards rebirth (iii.30); 9. it brings about a falling away of good; and 10. it becomes a bond (bandhana, v.45d) and prevents surmounting of the sphere of existence to which it belongs.5 *** How many anusayas are there? There are, in all, six. What are they? 768 Chapter Five lc-d. Six: attachment, and then anger, pride, ignorance, false views, and doubt.6 The words "and then (tathd)" serve to show that it is by reason of attachment that the others "take up their abode" (anusayana, v.17) in the object. We shall explain this point later. ld-2a. These six make seven through the division of attachment. There is the anusaya of attachment to pleasure or sensual desire (kdmardgdnusaya);7 the anusaya of anger; the anusaya of attachment to existence; the anusaya of pride; the anusaya of ignorance; the anusaya of erroneous views; and the anusaya of doubt (vicikitsd)* *** What does the expression kdmardganusaya signify? Is there an anusaya called kdmardgai Or is there an anusaya of kdmardga distinct from kdmardgai If one says that kdmardga is an anusaya, one then contradicts the Sutra which says, "The person who does not long dwell with his mind in the prey of (paryavasthita) attachment to pleasure; who, when the wrapping {paryavasthdna) of attachment is about to be produced, knows well how to depart from it, for this person the wrapping which is attachment, perfectly destroyed of its life force, is abandoned along with its anusaya"9 To say that attachment is abandoned at the same time as its anusaya is to say that attachment and its anusaya are two distinct things. If one explains kamaraganusya as the anusaya of kdmardga, one must make the anusaya a thing not associated with the mind (ii.35) (and consisting of the possession, prdpti, ii.36, of the kdmardga). But such a theory is in contradiction to the Abhidharma (Jndna- prasthdna, TD 26, p. 946b25 and following) which teaches that "kdmardganusaya is associated with (i.e., can be accompanied by) three sensations, that of pleasure, satisfaction, and indifference (ii.7)." Now a dharma not associated with the mind cannot be accompanied by these sensations.10 The Latent Defilements 769 According to the Vaibhasikas, kdmardgdnusaya is an anusaya called kdmaraga; it is the attachment itself which is anusaya; and the same for the other defilements: doubt {vicikitsd) is the anusaya of doubt. But the Sutra which we have just quoted says that one abandons kdmaraga along with its anusaya. Hence the anusaya is not kdmaraga}1 The Vaibhasikas answer: The expression "with its anusaya* should be explained as "with its anubandha\ that is, "with its consequences."12 Or rather the Sutra uses the word anusaya in the sense of "possession" because possession is the cause of the anusaya (ii.35, trans, p. 208).13 But the Abhidharma, which always expresses itself literally and not figuratively, says that the anusaya is the klesa or defilement itself. Consequently the anusayas are associated with the mind. (Besides this argument from authority, there is an argument from inference:) "Because they defile the mind, because they hinder, because they are in contradiction with good, and yet because good appears, the anusayas are not disassociated from the mind."14 This means that because of the anusayas, the mind is defiled; good which has not arisen is hindered from arising, and one falls away from good already arisen; consequently the anusayas are not dharmas disassociated from the mind. But, one would say, some dharmas disassociated from the mind can have a similar effect. No, for if the anusayas were disassociated from the mind, they would always be present; and, consequently, if we suppose that they have a similar effect, then good would never be able to arise. Now it is a fact that it does arise. Thus the anusayas are not disassociated from the mind.15 But again, the masters who consider the anusayas as disasso­ ciated from the mind do not attribute this threefold activity 770 Chapter Five (defiling the mind, etc.) to the anus ay as, but to the klesa itself (that is, to the paryavasthdna, the active defilement; and this is not always present). *** The Sautr&ntika theory is best. Kamaraganusaya means "anufaya of kdmardga\ But the anus ay a is neither associated with the mind, nor disassociated from it: for it is not a separate thing (dravya). What is called anus ay a is the kleSa itself in a state of sleep, whereas the paryavasthdna is the klesa in an awakened state. The sleeping klesa is the non-manif­ ested klesa, in the state of being a seed; the awakened klesa is the manifested klesa, the klesa in action. And by "seed" one should understand a certain capacity to produce the klesa, a power belonging to the person engendered by the previous klesa. In this same way there exists in a certain person the capacity of producing a consciousness of memory, a capacity engendered by a conscious­ ness of preception; in this same way the capacity to produce rice, which belongs to the plant, the shoot, the stalk, etc., is engendered by the rice seed.16 The masters17 for whom the seed of the kleia is a certain dharma distinct from the klesa itself, disassocated from the mind and called an anusaya, must admit a dharma existing in and of itself, disassociated from the mind and the cause of memory. And the same would hold for the plant. *** [The Sarvastivadins answer]. You do not have the right to explain "anusaya of kdmardga" for the Sutra clearly teaches that anusaya is kdmardga itself. The Satsatkasutra says, "This person has agreeable sensation, and rdgdnufaya"1* [From all evidence, the Sutra understands that, at the moment of agreeable sensation, there is active desire (rdga): and it designates this active desire by the name of anufaya]. But the Sutra says, "He has rdgdnusaya\" it does not say, "He The Latent Defilements 111 then has ragdnufaya." [At the moment of agreeable sensation, the anuiaya of desire (rdga) is in the process of arising, utpadyate; it has not yet arisen, utpanna. In other words, at the moment of the agreeable sensation, there is active rdga, awakened desire;] when this sensation ends, desire becomes dormant: then there is only the anusaya of desire, dormant desire, the seed of future awakened desire. Or rather, we would say, when the Sutra says rdgdnusaya, it means rdga: the first is the effect of the second, and the cause can be designated by the name of its effect. The examination of this chance problem is finished. Let us return to our subject. *** What is this division that the Sutra sets up, attachment to agreeable objects (kdmardga) and attachment to existence (bhavardga)? What is attachment to existence? 2b. Attachment to existence arises from the two Dhatus. Attachment to Rupadhatu and to Arupyadhatu is called bhavardga, attachment to existence [in opposition to kdmardga, attachment to agreeable objects,—kdmas or kdmagunas,—which is attachment proper to Kamadhatu, iii.3c-d]. Why is the name of attachment to existence (bhavardga) reserved for attachment to the two higher Dhatus? 2c-d. It is so called because it is turned within, and in order to avoid the idea that these two Dhatus are deliverance.19 The School explains: In general, the attachment of the beings in these two Dhatus is with regard to absorption (samdpatti), (or more precisely, to "enjoyable" dhyana, asvddanasamprayuktadhydna, viii.6). One says "in general" because these beings also have attachments with regard to their palaces, vimdnas, etc. 772 Chapter Five This attachment, being an absorption, is turned within. This is why it alone receives the name of attachment to existence. Further, certain persons imagine that the two Dhatus consti­ tute deliverance: this is why the Blessed One gives the name "attachment to existence" to the attachment which has these two Dhatus for its object. (According to us), existence (bhava) means the person. Beings in absorption enjoy both the absorption itself and their own persons. Being freed from attachment to pleasures, they only enjoy their own persons and not external objects. This is why attachment to the two higher Dhatus is called attachment to existence (bhavaraga). *** According to the Abhidharma (Jnanaprasthana, TD 26, p.