-K-
kabalinkārāhāra:
lit. 'food formed into balls',
i.e. food formed into mouthfuls for eating (according to Indian custom); it
denotes 'material food' and belongs, together with the three mental nutriments,
to the group of four nutriments (s. āhāra).
kalāpa, 'group', 'unit': 1. 'corporeal unit' (s. rūpa-kalāpa); 2.
It has the meaning of 'group of existence' (khandha) in kalāpasammasana
(s. sammasana), i.e.
'comprehension by groups', which is the application of 'methodical (or
inductive) insight' (naya-vipassanā)
to the comprehension of the 5 aggregates (khandha) as impermanent, painful and not-self. It is a process
of methodical summarization, or generalization, from one's own meditative
experience that is applied to each of the 5 aggregates, viewed as past,
present, future, as internal and external, etc. In Vis.M. XX, where the
'comprehension by groups' is treated in detail, it is said to constitute 'the
beginning of insight' as it leads to the 'knowledge of rise and fall', being
the first of the 8 insightknowledges (s. visuddhi
VI). It is necessary for accomplishing the 5th purification (s. visuddhi V; Vis.M. XX, 2, 6ff.).
kappa (q.v.)
= kalpa: (Skr).
kalyāna-mitta:
'noble (or good) friend', is
called a senior monk who is the mentor and friend of his pupil, "wishing
for his welfare and concerned with his progress", guiding his meditation;
in particular, the meditation teacher (kammaṭṭhānācariya)
is so called. For details see Vis.M. III, 28,57ff. The Buddha said that
"noble friendship is the entire holy life" (S. III, 18; XLV, 2), and
he himself is the good friend par excellence: "Ānanda, it is owing to my being a good friend to them that
living beings subject to birth are freed from birth" (S. III, 18).
1. Subjective sensuality, or
sense-desire, is directed to all five sense-objects, and is synonymous with kāma-cchanda,
'sensuous desire', one of the 5 hindrances (nīvaraṇa, q.v.); kāma-rāga, sensuous lust', one of the ten
fetters (saṃyojana,
q.v.); kāma-taṇhā,
'sensuous craving', one of the 3 cravings (taṇhā, q.v.); kāma-vitakka, 'sensuous thought', one of the 3 wrong
thoughts (micchā-saṅkappa;
s. vitakka). -
Sense-desire is also one of the cankers (āsava, q.v.) and clingings (upādāna, q.v.).
2. Objective sensuality is, in the
canonical texts, mostly called kāma-guṇa,
'cords (or strands) of sensuality'.
"There are 5 cords of sensuality:
the visible objects, cognizable by eye-consciousness, that are desirable,
cherished, pleasant, lovely, sensuous and alluring; the sounds ... smells ...
tastes ... bodily impressions cognizable by body-consciousness, that are
desirable .... " (D. 33; M. 13, 26, 59, 66).
These two kinds of
Sense-desire is finally eliminated at
the stage of the Non-Returner (Anāgāmī;
s. ariya-puggala, saṃyojana).
The peril and misery of sense-desire is
often described in the texts, e.g. in stirring similes at M. 22, 54, and in the
'gradual instruction' (s. ānupubbī-kathā).
See further M. 13, 45, 75; Sn. v. 766ff.; Dhp. 186, 215.
The texts often stress the fact that
what fetters man to the world of the senses are not the sense-organs nor the
sense-objects but lustful desire (chandarāga).
On this see A. VI, 63; S. XXXV, 122, 191. - (App.).
kāma-bhava: 'sensuous existence'; s. bhava.
kāma-cchanda: 'sensuous desire', s. nīvaraṇa, chanda.
kāma-guṇa:
s.
kāma-loka: 'sensuous world', s. loka.
kāma-rāga:
'sensuous lust', is one of the
10 fetters (saṃyojana, q
.v .) .
kāmāsava:
s: āsava.
kāma-sukh'allikānuyoga:
'being addicted to sensual
pleasures', is one of the 2 extremes to be avoided by the monk; s. majjhima-paṭipadā.
kāma-taṇhā:
'sensuous craving'; s. taṇhā.
kāmāvacara
: 'sensuous sphere'; s. avacara.
kāmesu-micchācāra:
lit. 'wrong or evil conduct
with regard to sensual things'; 'unlawful sexual intercourse' refers to
adultery, and to intercourse with minors or other persons under guardianship.
The abstaining from this unlawful act is one of the 5 moral rules (s. sikkhāpada) binding
upon all Buddhists. Through any other sexual act one does not become guilty of
the above transgression, which is considered a great crime. The monk, however,
has to observe perfect chastity.
In many Suttas (e.g. A.X., 176) we find the following explanation: "He
avoids unlawful sexual intercourse, abstains from it. He has no intercourse
with girls who are still under the protection of father or mother, brother,
sister or relatives, nor with married women, nor female convicts, nor, lastly,
with betrothed girls."
kamma: (wholesome
or unwholesome) action; s. kamma.
kamma-bhava: s. bhava,
paṭiccasamuppāda.
kammaja-rūpa: 'kamma-produced corporeality'; s. samuṭṭhāna.
kammaññatā: 'adaptability', i.e. of corporeality (rūpassa; s. khandha, Summary I),
mental factors (kāya),
and of consciousness (citta); cf.
Tab. II.
kammanta, sammā-:
'right action'; s. magga.
kamma-paccaya: 'kamma as condition'; s. paccaya (13).
kamma-patha: 'course of action', is a name for the group of
10 kinds of either unwholesome or wholesome actions, viz.
I. The tenfold unwholesome courses of
action (akusala-kamma-patha):
3 bodily actions: killing, stealing,
unlawful sexual intercourse;
4 verbal actions: lying, slandering,
rude speech, foolish babble;
3 mental actions: covetousness,
ill-will, evil views.
Unwholesome mental courses of action
comprise only extreme forms of defiled thought: the greedy wish to appropriate
others' property, the hateful thought of harming others, and pernicious views.
Milder forms of mental defilement are also unwholesome, but do not constitute
'courses of action'.
II. The tenfold wholesome course of
action (kusala-kamma-patha):
3 bodily actions: avoidance of killing,
stealing, unlawful sexual intercourse;
4 verbal actions: avoidance of lying,
slandering, rude speech, foolish babble; i.e. true, conciliatory, mild, and
wise speech;
3 mental actions: unselfishness,
good-will, right views.
Both lists occur repeatedly, e.g. in A.
X, 28, 176; M. 9; they are explained in detail in M. 114, and in Com. to M. 9
(R. Und., p. 14), Aṭṭhasālinī
Tr. I, 126ff.
kamma-samuṭṭhāna-rūpa:
'corporeality produced through
kamma'; s. samuṭṭhāna.
kammaṭṭhāna:
lit. 'working-ground' (i.e. for
meditation), is the term in the Com. for 'subjects of meditation'; s. bhāvanā.
kamma-vatta: 'kamma-round'; s. vatta.
kammāyūhana:
s. āyūhana.
kāmupādāna:
'sensuous clinging', is one of
the 4 kinds of clinging (upādāna,
q.v.).
kaṅkhā: 'doubt', may be either an intellectual, critical
doubt or an ethically and psychologically detrimental doubt. The latter may
either be a persistent negative skepticism or wavering indecision. Only the
detrimental doubt (identical with vicikicchā
, q.v.) is to be rejected as kammically unwholesome, as it
paralyses thinking and hinders the inner development of man. Reasoned, critical
doubt in dubious matters is thereby not discouraged.
The 16 doubts enumerated in the Suttas (e.g. M. 2) are the following:
"Have I been in the past? Or, have I not been in the past? What have I
been in the past? How have I been in the past? From what state into what state
did I change in the past? - Shall I be in the future? Or, shall I not be in the
future? What shall I be in the future? How shall I be in the future? From what
state into what state shall I change in the future? - Am I? Or, am I not? What
am I? How am I? Whence has this being come? Whither will it go?"
kaṅkhā-vitarana-visuddhi:
'purification by overcoming
doubt', is the 4th of the 7 stages of purification (visuddhi, q.v.).
kappa (Sanskrit kalpa): 'world-period', an
inconceivably long space of time, an aeon. This again is subdivided into 4
sections: world-dissolution (saṃvaṭṭa-kappa)
dissolving world), continuation of the chaos (saṃvaṭṭa-ṭṭhāyī),
world-formation (vivaṭṭa
-kappa), continuation of the formed world (vivaṭṭa-ṭṭhāyī).
"How long a world-dissolution will
continue, how long the chaos, how long the formation, how long the continuation
of the formed world, of these things; o monks, one hardly can say that it will
be so many years, or so many centuries, or so many millennia, or so many
hundred thousands of years" (A. IV, 156)
A detailed description of the 4
world-periods is given in that stirring discourse on the all-embracing
impermanence in A. VII, 62.
The beautiful simile in S. XV, 5 may be
mentioned here: "Suppose, o monks, there was a huge rock of one solid
mass, one mile long, one mile wide, one mile high, without split or flaw. And
at the end of every hundred years a man should come and rub against it once
with a silken cloth. Then that huge rock would wear off and disappear quicker
than a world-period. But of such world-periods, o monks, many have passed away,
many hundreds, many thousands, many hundred thousands. And how is this
possible? Inconceivable, o monks, is this saṃsāra
(q.v.), not to be discovered is any
first beginning of beings, who obstructed by ignorance and ensnared by craving,
are hurrying and hastening through this round of rebirths."
Compare here Grimm's German fairy-tale
of the little shepherdboy: 'In Farther Pommerania there is the
diamond-mountain, one hour high, one hour wide, one hour deep. There every
hundred years a little bird comes and whets its little beak on it. And when the
whole mountain is ground off, then the first second of eternity has
passed."
kamma: (Sanskrit
: karma): 'action', correctly
speaking denotes the wholesome and unwholesome volitions (kusala- and akusala-cetanā)
and their concomitant mental factors, causing rebirth and shaping the
destiny of beings. These kammical volitions (kamma cetanā) become manifest as wholesome or unwholesome
actions by body (kāya-kamma),
speech (vacī-kamma)
and mind (mano-kamma). Thus the
Buddhist term 'kamma' by no means signifies the result of actions, and quite
certainly not the fate of man, or perhaps even of whole nations (the so-called
wholesale or mass-kamma), misconceptions which, through the influence of
theosophy, have become widely spread in the West.
"Volition (cetanā), o monks, is what I call action (cetanāhaṃ bhikkhave kammaṃ
vadāmi), for through volition one performs the action by body,
speech or mind. . There is kamma (action), o monks, that ripens in hell....
Kamma that ripens in the animal world.. Kamma that ripens in the world of
men.... Kamma that ripens in the heavenly world.... Threefold, however, is the
fruit of kamma: ripening during the life-time (diṭṭha-dhamma-vedanīya kamma), ripening in the
next birth (upapajja-vedanīya
kamma), ripening in later births (aparāpariya-vedanīya kamma) ...." (A.VI, 63).
The 3 conditions or roots (mūla, q.v.) of unwholesome
kamma (actions) are greed, hatred, delusion (lobha, dosa, moha); those of wholesome kamma
are: unselfishness (alobha), hatelessness
(adosa = mettā, good-will), undeludedness (amoha = paññā, knowledge)
.
"Greed, o monks, is a condition
for the arising of kamma; hatred is a condition for the arising of kamma;
delusion is a condition for the arising of kamma ...." (A. III, 109).
"The unwholesome actions are of 3
kinds, conditioned by greed, or hate, or delusion.
"Killing ... stealing ... unlawful
sexual intercourse ... lying ... slandering ... rude speech ... foolish babble,
if practised, carried on, and frequently cultivated, leads to rebirth in hell,
or amongst the animals, or amongst the ghosts" (A. III, 40). "He who
kills and is cruel goes either to hell or, if reborn as man, will be
short-lived. He who torments others will be afflicted with disease. The angry
one will look ugly, the envious one will be without influence, the stingy one
will be poor, the stubborn one will be of low descent, the indolent one will be
without knowledge. In the contrary case, man will be reborn in heaven or reborn
as man, he will be long-lived, possessed of beauty, influence, noble descent
and knowledge" (cf. M. 135).
For the above 10-fold wholesome and
unwholesome course of action, see kamma-patha.
For the 5 heinous crimes with immediate result, s. ānantarika-kamma.
"Owners of their kamma are the
beings, heirs of their kamma, their kamma is their womb from which they are
born, their kamma is their friend, their refuge. Whatever kamma they perform,
good or bad, thereof they will be the heirs" (M. 135).
With regard to the time of the taking place
of the kamma-result (vipāka),
one distinguishes, as mentioned above, 3 kinds of kamma:
1. kamma ripening during the life-time (diṭṭha-dhamma-vedanīya
kamma);
2. kamma ripening in the next birth (upapajja-vedanīya kamma);
3. kamma ripening in later births (aparāpariya-vedanīya kamma).
The first two kinds of kamma may be
without kamma-result (vipāka),
if the circumstances required for the taking place of the kamma-result are
missing, or if, through the preponderance of counteractive kamma and their being
too weak, they are unable to produce any result. In this case they are called ahosi-kamma, lit. 'kamma
that has been', in other words, ineffectual kamma.
The third type of kamma, however, which
bears fruit in later lives, will, whenever and wherever there is an
opportunity, be productive of kamma-result. Before its result has ripened, it
will never become ineffective as long as the life-process is kept going by
craving and ignorance.
According to the Com., e.g. Vis.M. XIX,
the 1st of the 7 kammical impulsive-moments (kamma-javana; s. javana)
is considered as 'kamma ripening during the life-time', the 7th moment as
'kamma ripening in the next birth', the remaining 5 moments as 'kamma ripening
in later births'.
With regard to their functions one
distinguishes:
1. regenerative (or productive) kamma (janaka-kamma),
2. supportive (or consolidating) kamma
(upatthambhaka kamma),
3. counteractive (suppressive or
frustrating) kamma (upapīḷaka
kamma),
4. destructive (or supplanting) kamma (upaghātaka- or upacchedaka kamma).
(1) produces the 5 groups of existence
(corporeality, feeling, perception, mental formations, consciousness) at
rebirth as well as during life-continuity.
(2) does not produce kamma-results but
is only able to maintain the already produced kamma-results.
(3) counteracts or suppresses the
kamma-results.
(4) destroys the influence of a weaker
kamma and effects only its own result.
With regard to the priority of their
result one distinguishes:
1. weighty kamma (garuka kamma),
2. habitual kamma (āciṇṇaka- or bahula-kamma),
3. death-proximate kamma (maraṇāsanna kamma),
4. stored-up kamma (kaṭattākamma).
(1, 2) The weighty (garuka) and the habitual (bahula) wholesome or unwholesome
kamma are ripening earlier than the light and rarely performed kamma. (3) The
death-proximate (maraṇāsanna)
kamma - i.e. the wholesome or unwholesome volition present immediately before
death, which often may be the reflex of some previously performed good or evil
action (kamma), or of a sign
of it (kamma-nimitta), or of a sign of the future existence (gati-nimitta) - produces rebirth.
(4) In the absence of any of these three actions at the moment before death,
the stored-up (katattā) kamma
will produce rebirth.
A real, and in the ultimate sense true,
understanding of Buddhist kamma doctrine is possible only through a deep
insight into the impersonality (s. anattā)
and conditionality (s. paṭiccasamuppāda,
paccaya) of all phenomena of
existence. "Everywhere, in all the forms of existence ... such a one is
beholding merely mental and physical phenomena kept going by their being bound
up through causes and effects.
"No doer does he see behind the
deeds, no recipient apart from the kamma-fruit. And with full insight he
clearly understands that the wise ones are using merely conventional terms
when, with regard to the taking place of any action, they speak of a doer, or
when they speak of a receiver of the kamma-results at their arising. Therefore
the ancient masters have said:
'No doer of the deeds is found,
No one who ever reaps their fruits;
Empty phenomena roll on:
This view alone is right and true.
'And whilst the deeds and their results
Roll on, based on conditions all,
There no beginning can be seen,
Just as it is with seed and tree.'
" (Vis.M. XIX)
Kamma (kamma-paccaya) is one of the 24 conditions (paccaya, q.v.) (App.: Kamma).
Literature: Kamma and
Rebirth, by Nyanatiloka (WHEEL 9); Survival and Kamma in Buddhist Perspective, by
K.N. Jayatilleke (WHEEL 141/143); Kamma and its Fruit (WHEEL 221/224).
kamma-accumulation:
āyūhana
(q.v.).
kamma-formations: saṅkhāra,
i.e. wholesome or unwholesome volitions (cetanā) manifested as actions of body, speech or mind, form
the 2nd link of the formula of dependent origination (paṭiccasamuppāda, q.v.).
kamma-process: s. bhava,
paṭiccasamuppāda.
kamma-produced
corporeality: s. samuṭṭhāna.
kamma-result: vipāka (q.v.).
kamma-round: kamma vatta (s. vatta).
kammically acquired
corporeality: upādinnarūpa (q.v.).
kammically
wholesome, unwholesome, neutral:
kusala (q.v.), akusala(q.v.) avyākata (q.v.); cf. Tab.
I.. .
karunā: 'compassion', is one of the 4 sublime abodes (brahma-vihāra, q.v.).
kasiṇa: (perhaps related to Sanskrit krtsna,
'all, complete, whole'), is the name for a purely external device to produce
and develop concentration of mind and attain the 4 absorptions (jhāna q.v.). It consists in
concentrating one's full and undivided attention on one visible object as
preparatory image (parikamma-nimitta),
e.g. a colored spot or disc, or a piece of earth, or a pond at some
distance, etc., until at last one perceives, even with the eyes closed, a
mental reflex, the acquired image (uggaha-nimitta).
Now, while continuing to direct one's attention to this image, there may arise
the spotless and immovable counter-image (paṭibhāga-nimitta), and together with it the
neighbourhood-concentration (upacāra-samādhi)
will have been reached. While still persevering in the concentration on the
object, one finally will reach a state of mind where all sense-activity is
suspended, where there is no more seeing and hearing, no more perception of
bodily impression and feeling, i.e. the state of the 1st mental absorption (jhāna, q.v.).
The 10 kasiṇas mentioned in the Suttas are: earth-kasiṇa, water,
fire, wind, blue, yellow, red, white, space, and consciousness. "There are
10 kasiṇa-spheres: someone sees the earth kasiṇa, above, below, on
all sides, undivided, unbounded .... someone see the water-kasiṇa, above,
below, etc." (M. 77; D. 33) Cf. abhibhāyatan,
bhāvanā; further s.
Fund. IV.
For space and consciousness-kasiṇa
we find in Vis.M. V the names limited space-kasiṇa (paricchinnākāsa-kasiṇa;
. . . s. App. ) and light-kasiṇa (āloka-kasiṇa).
For full description see Vis.M. IV-V;
also Aṭṭhasālinī
Tr. I, 248.
kaṭattākamma:
'stored-up kamma'; s. kamma.
kāya (lit: accumulation): 'group', 'body', may either
refer to the physical body (rūpa-kāya)
or to the mental body (nāma-kāya).
In the latter case it is either a collective name for the mental groups
(feeling, perception, mental formations, consciousness; s. khandha), or merely for feeling,
perception and a few of the mental formations (s. nāma), e.g. in kāya-lahutā, etc. (cf. Tab. II). Kāya has this same meaning
in the standard description of the 3rd absorption (jhāna, q.v.) "and he feels joy in his mind or his
mental constitution (kāya)",
and (e.g. Pug. 1-8) of the attainment of the 8 deliverances (vimokkha, q.v.); "having
attained the 8 deliverances in his mind,
or his person (kāya)."
- Kāya is also
the 5th sense-organ, the body-organ; s. āyatana,
dhātu, indriya.
kāya-gatā-sati:
'mindfulness with regard to the
body', refers sometimes (e.g. Vis.M. VIII, 2) only to the contemplation on the
32 parts of the body, sometimes (e.g. M. 119) to all the various meditations
comprised under the 'contemplation of the body' (kāyānupassanā), the 1st of the 4 'foundations of
mindfulness' (Satipaṭṭhāna,
q.v.), consisting partly in concentration (samādhi) exercises, partly in insight (vipassanā) exercises. On the
other hand, the cemetery meditations (sīvathika,
q.v.) mentioned in the Satipaṭṭhāna
S.(M. 10) are nearly the same as the 10 contemplations of loathsomeness
(asubha-bhāvanā, q.v.).
of Vis.M. VI, whereas elsewhere the contemplation on the 32 parts of the body
is called the 'reflection on impurity' (paṭikkūla-saññā).
In such texts as: 'One thing, o monks,
developed and repeatedly practised, leads to the attainment of wisdom. It is
the contemplation on the body' (A.I), the reference is to all exercises
mentioned in the 1st Satipaṭṭhāna.
Vis.M. VIII, 2 gives a detailed
description and explanation of the method of developing the contemplation on
the 32 parts of the body. This exercise can produce the 1st absorption only (jhāna, q.v.) The stereotype
text given in the Satipaṭṭhāna
Sutta and elsewhere - but leaving out the brain - runs as follows:
"And further, o monks, the monk
contemplates this body from the soles of the feet upward, and from the tops of
the hairs downward, with skin stretched over it, and filled with manifold
impurities: 'This body has hairs of the head, hairs of the body, nails, teeth,
skin, flesh, sinews, bones, marrow, kidneys, heart, liver, diaphragm, spleen,
lungs, intestines, bowels, stomach, excrement, bile, phlegm, pus, blood, sweat,
fat, tears, skin grease, spittle, nasal mucus, oil of the joints, and urine
...."
Vis.M. VIII, 2 says "By repeating
the words of this exercise one will become well acquainted with the wording,
the mind will not rush here and there, the different parts will become distinct
and appear like a row of fingers, or a row of hedge-poles. Now, just as one
repeats the exercise in words, one should do it also in mind. The repeating in
mind forms the condition for the penetration of the characteristic marks.... He
who thus has examined the parts of the body as to colour, shape, region,
locality and limits, and considers them one by one, and not too hurriedly, as
something loathsome, to such a one, while contemplating the body, all these
things at the same time are appearing distinctly clear. But also when keeping
one's attention fixed outwardly (i.e. to the bodies of other beings), and when
all the parts appear distinctly, then all men and animals moving about lose the
appearance of living beings and appear like heaps of many different things. And
it looks as if those foods and drinks, being swallowed by them, were being
inserted into this heap of things. Now, while again and again one is conceiving
the idea 'Disgusting! Disgusting!' - omitting in due course several parts -
gradually the attainment - concentration (appanā-samādhi, i.e. the concentration of the jhāna) will be
reached. In this connection, the appearing of forms ... is called the acquired
image (uggaha-nimitta), the
arising of loathsomeness, however, the counter-image (paṭibhāga-nimitta)."
kāya-kamma: 'bodily action'; s. kamma, kammapatha.
kāya-kammaññatā, k.-lahutā,
k.-mudutā, k.-pāguññatā, k.-passaddhi, k.-ujukatā ; s. Tab. II. For passaddhi, s. further bojjhaṅga.
kāya-lahutā:
agility or lightness of mental
factors (s. lahutā).
kāyānupassanā:
'contemplation of the body', is
one of the 4 foundations of mindfulness; s. Satipaṭṭhāna.
kāya-passaddhi:
tranquillity of mental factors,
s. bojjhaṅga.
kāya-sakkhi: 'body-witness', is one of the 7 noble disciples
(s. ariya-puggala,
B.). He is one who "in his own person (lit. body) has attained the 8 deliverances (vimokkha, q.v.), and after wisely understanding the phenomena,
the cankers have partly come to extinction" (Pug. 32). In A. IX, 44 it is
said: "A monk, o brother, attains the 1st absorption (jhāna, q.v.), and as far as
this domain reaches,- so far he has realized it in his own person. Thus the
Blessed One calls such a person a body-witness in certain respects. (The same
is then repeated with regard to the 7 higher absorptions). Further again, o
brother, the monk attains the extinction of perception and feeling (s. nirodha-samāpatti),
and after wisely understanding the phenomena, all the cankers come to extinction.
Thus, o brother, the Blessed One calls such a person a body-witness in all
respects."
kāya-viññatti:
s. viññatti.
khalu-pacchā-bhattikaṅga:
s. dhutaṅga.
khaṇa: 'moment'; s. citta-kkhaṇa.
khandha: the 5 'groups (of existence)' or 'groups of
clinging' (upādānakkhandha);
alternative renderings: aggregates, categories of clinging's objects. These
are the 5 aspects in which the Buddha has summed up all the physical and mental
phenomena of existence, and which appear to the ignorant man as his ego, or
personality, to wit:
(1) the corporeality group (rūpa-kkhandha),
(2) the feeling group (vedanā-kkhandha),
(3) the perception group (saññā-kkhandha),
(4) the mental-formation group (saṅkhāra-kkhandha),
(5) the consciousness-group (viññāṇa-kkhandha).
"Whatever there exists of
corporeal things, whether past, present or future, one's own or external, gross
or subtle, lofty or low, far or near, all that belongs to the corporeality
group. Whatever there exists of feeling ... of perception ... of mental
formations ... of consciousness ... all that belongs to the
consciousness-group" (S. XXII, 48). - Another division is that into the 2
groups: mind (2-5) and corporeality (1) (nāma-rūpa),
whilst in Dhammasaṅganī,
the first book of the Abhidhamma,
all the phenomena are treated by way of 3 groups: consciousness (5), mental
factors (2-4), corporeality (1), in Pāḷi
citta, cetasika, rūpa. Cf. Guide I.
What is called individual existence is
in reality nothing but a mere process of those mental and physical phenomena, a
process that since time immemorial has been going on, and that also after death
will still continue for unthinkably long periods of time. These 5 groups,
however, neither singly nor collectively constitute any self-dependent real
ego-entity, or personality (attā),
nor is there to be found any such entity apart from them. Hence the belief
in such an ego-entity or personality, as real in the ultimate sense, proves a
mere illusion.
"When all constituent parts are
there,
The designation 'cart' is used;
Just so, where the five groups exist,
Of 'living being' do we speak."
(S. V. 10).
The fact ought to be emphasized here
that these 5 groups, correctly speaking, merely form an abstract classification
by the Buddha, but that they as such, i.e. as just these 5 complete groups,
have no real existence, since only single representatives of these groups,
mostly variable, can arise with any state of consciousness. For example, with
one and the same unit of consciousness only one single kind of feeling, say joy
or sorrow, can be associated and never more than one. Similarly, two different
perceptions cannot arise at the same moment. Also, of the various kinds of
sense-cognition or consciousness, only one can be present at a time, for
example, seeing, hearing or inner consciousness, etc. Of the 50 mental
formations, however, a smaller or larger number are always associated with
every state of consciousness, as we shall see later on.
Some writers on Buddhism who have not
understood that the five khandha
are just classificatory groupings, have conceived them as compact entities
('heaps', 'bundles'), while actually, as stated above, the groups never exist
as such, i.e. they never occur in a simultaneous totality of all their
constituents. Also those single constituents of a group which are present in
any given body- and -mind process, are of an evanescent nature, and so also
their varying combinations. Feeling, perception and mental formations are only
different aspects and functions of a single unit of consciousness. They are to
consciousness what redness, softness, sweetness, etc. are to an apple and have
as little separate existence as those qualities.
In S. XXII, 56, there is the following
short definition of these 5 groups:
"What, o monks, is the
corporeality-group? The 4 primary elements (Mahā-bhūta or dhātu)
and corporeality depending thereon, this is called the corporeality-group.
"What, o monks, is the
feeling-group? There are 6 classes of feeling: due to visual impression, to
sound impression, to odour impression, to taste impression, to bodily
impression, and to mind impression....
"What, o monks, is the
perception-group? There are 6 classes of perception: perception of visual
objects, of sounds, of odours, of tastes, of bodily impressions, and of mental
impressions....
"What, o monks, is the group of
mental formations? There are 6 classes of volitional states (cetanā): with regard to visual
objects, to sounds, to odours, to tastes, to bodily impressions and to mind
objects....
"What, o monks, is the
consciousness-group? There are 6 classes of consciousness: eye-consciousness,
ear-consciousness, nose-consciousness, tongue-consciousness,
body-consciousness, and mind-consciousness."
About the inseparability of the groups
it is said:
''Whatever, o brother, there exists of
feeling, of perception and of mental formations, these things are associated,
not dissociated, and it is impossible to separate one from the other and show
their difference. For whatever one feels, one perceives; and whatever one
perceives, of this one is conscious" (M. 43).
Further: "Impossible is it for
anyone to explain the passing out of one existence and the entering into a new
existence, or the growth, increase and development of consciousness independent
of corporeality, feeling, perception and mental formations" (S. XII, 53)
For the inseparability and mutual
conditionality of the 4 mental groups s. paccaya
(6, 7).
Regarding the impersonality (anattā) and emptiness (suññatā) of the 5 groups, it
is said in S. XXII, 49:
"Whatever there is of
corporeality, feeling, perception, mental formations and consciousness, whether
past, present or future, one's own or external, gross or subtle, lofty or low,
far or near, this one should understand according to reality and true wisdom:
'This does not belong to me, this am I not, this is not my Ego.' "
Further in S. XXII, 95: "Suppose
that a man who is not blind were to behold the many bubbles on the
The 5 groups are compared,
respectively, to a lump of froth, a bubble, a mirage, a coreless plantain stem,
and a conjuring trick (S. XXII, 95).
See the Khandha Saṃyutta
(S. XXII); Vis.M. XIV.
SUMMARY
OF THE 5 GROUPS
I.
Corporeality Group
(rūpa-kkhandha)
A. Underived (no-upādā): 4 elements
the solid, or earth-element (paṭhavī-dhātu)
the liquid, or water-element (āpo-dhātu)
heat, or fire-element (tejo-dhātu)
motion, or wind-element (vāyo-dhātu)
B. Derived (upādā): 24 secondary phenomena
Physical sense-organs of: seeing,
hearing, smelling, tasting, body
Physical sense-objects: form, sound,
odour, taste, (bodily impacts)
'Bodily impacts' (phoṭṭhabba) are
generally omitted in this list, because these physical objects of
body-sensitivity are identical with the afore-mentioned solid element, heat and
motion element. Hence their inclusion under 'derived corporeality' would be a
duplication.
femininity (itthindriya)
virility (purisindriya)
physical base of mind (hadaya-vatthu, q.v.)
bodily expression (kāya-viññatti; s. viññatti)
verbal expression (vacī-viññatti)
physical life (rūpa jīvita;
s. jīvita)
space element (ākāsa-dhātu, q.v.)
physical agility (rūpassa lahutā)
physical elasticity (rūpassa mudutā)
physical adaptability (rūpassa kammaññatā)
physical growth (rūpassa upacaya)
physical continuity (rūpassa santati; s. santāna)
decay (jarā, q.v.)
impermanence (aniccatā)
nutriment (āhāra, q.v.)
II.
Feeling Group
(vedanā-kkhandha)
All feelings may, according to their
nature, be classified as 5 kinds:
bodily agreeable feeling sukha = kāyikā sukhā vedanā
bodily painful feeling dukkha = kāyikā dukkhā vedanā
mentally agreeable feeling somanassa = cetasikā sukhā
vedanā
mentally painful feeling domanassa = cetasikā dukkhā
vedanā
indifferent feeling upekkhā = adukkha-m-asukhā vedanā
III.
Perception Group
(saññā-kkhandha)
All perceptions are divided into 6
classes: perception of form, sound, odour, taste, bodily impression, and mental
impression.
IV.
Group of Mental Formations
(saṅkhāra-kkhandha)
This group comprises 50 mental
phenomena, of which 11 are general psychological elements, 25 lofty (Sobhana) qualities, 14 kammically
unwholesome qualities. Cf. Tab. 11.
V.
Consciousness Group
(viññāṇa-kkhandha)
The Suttas divide consciousness, according to the senses,
into 6 classes: eye-, ear-, nose-, tongue-, body-, mind-consciousness.
The Abhidhamma and commentaries, however, distinguish, from the
kammical or moral viewpoint, 89 classes of consciousness. Cf. viññāṇa and Tab. 1.
The moral quality of feeling,
perception and consciousness is determined by the mental formations.
khandha-parinibbāna:
s. Nibbāna.
khandha-santāna:
s. santāna.
khanti : 'patience', forbearance', is one of the 10
perfections (pāramī, q.v.).
khayānupassanā:
'contemplation of dissolution',
is one of the 18 chief kinds of insight (s. vipassanā).
khidda-padosikā
devā: 'the celestial
beings corruptible by pleasures', are a class of devas (q.v.) of the sensuous sphere. They waste their time in
merriment, play and enjoyment, and thereby become thoughtless, and in their
thoughtlessness they fall from that world (D. 1; 24).
khīnāsava:
'the one in whom all cankers
are destroyed' is a name for the Arahat, or Holy One; s. āsava.
kicca 'function'. Regarding the 14 functions of
consciousness, s. viññāṇa-kicca.
kilesa: 'defilements', are mind-defiling, unwholesome qualities.
Vis.M. XXII, 49, 65: "There are 10 defilements, thus called because they
are themselves defiled, and because they defile the mental factors associated
with them. They are: (1) greed (lobha),
(2) hate (dosa), (3) delusion
(moha), (4) conceit (māna), (5) speculative views (diṭṭhi), (6) skeptical
doubt (vicikicchā ), (7)
mental torpor (thīna),
(8) restlessness (uddhacca); (9)
shamelessness (ahirika ), (10)
lack of moral dread or unconscientiousness (anottappa)." For 1-3, s. mūla; 4, s. māna;
5, s. diṭṭhi;
6-8, s. nīvaraṇa;
9 and 10, s. ahirika -anottappa.
The ten are explained in Dhs. 1229f and
enumerated in Vibh. XII. No classification of the k. is found in the Suttas , though the term occurs quite often in them.
For the related term, upakkilesa (q.v.; 'impurities') different lists are
given - (App.).
kilesa-kāma: 'sensuality considered as defilement' (s. kilesa) might well be
called 'subjective sensuality', in contradistinction to 'objective sensuality' (vatthu-kāma), i.e. the
sensuous objects (kāma-guṇa).
Cf.
kilesa-parinibbāna:
s. Nibbāna (1).
killing: s. kamma, kammapatha,
sikkhāpada.
kiñcana: 'something', i.e. something evil that sticks or
adheres to character. 'Evil appendant', is a name for the 3 unwholesome roots (mūla). "There are 3 appendants:
greed (lobha) is an
appendant, hate (dosa) is an
appendant, delusion (moha) is
an appendant" (D. 33). 'Freed from appendants' (akiñcana) is a term for the perfectly Holy One (Arahat).
kiriya (or kriya)-citta: 'functional consciousness' or 'kammically
inoperative consciousness', is a name for such states of consciousness as are
neither kammically wholesome (kusala),
nor unwholesome (akusala), nor
kamma-results (vipāka); that
is, they function independently of kamma. Thus are also called all those worldly
mental states in the Arahat which are accompanied by 2 or 3 noble roots
(greedlessness, hatelessness, undeludedness), being in the Arahat kammically
neutral and corresponding to the kammically wholesome states of a non-Arahat
(s. Tab. 1-8 and 73-89), as well as the rootless mirth-producing (hasituppāda) mind-consciousness-element
of the Arahat (Tab. 72); further, that mind-element (mano-dhātu) which performs the function of advertence (āvajjana) to the sense object (Tab.
70), and that mind-consciousness-element (manoviññāṇa-dhātu) which performs the functions
of deciding (voṭṭhapana)
and advertence to the mental object (Tab. 71). The last-named 2 elements,
of course, occur in all beings.
Together with kamma-resultant
consciousness (vipāka)
it belongs to the group of 'kammically neutral consciousness' (avyākata). See Tab. I (last
column). - (App.).
knowledge: cf. paññā,
ñāṇa, vijjā, vipassanā, abhiññā.
kolaṅkola: 'passing from one noble family to another', is
the name for one of the 3 kinds of Sotāpanna
(q.v.).
kiriya-citta = kiriya
(q.v.).
kukkucca: lit. 'wrongly-performed-ness' (ku+krta+ya),
i.e. scruples, remorse, uneasiness of conscience, worry, is one of the
kammically unwholesome (akusala) mental
faculties (Tab. II) which, whenever it arises, is associated with hateful
(discontented) consciousness (Tab. I and III, 30, 31). It is the 'repentance
over wrong things done, and right things neglected' (Com. to A. I).
Restlessness and scruples (uddhacca-kukkucca),
combined, are counted as one of the 5 mental hindrances (nīvaraṇa, q.v.).
kuppa-dhamma 'liable to perturbation', is one who has not yet
attained full mastery over the
absorptions. In Pug. 3 it is said: "What person is liable to perturbation?
Such a person gains the attainments of the fine-material and immaterial sphere
(s. avacara). But he
does not gain them at his wish, nor without toil and exertion; and not at his
wish as regards place, object and duration, does he enter them or arise from
them. Thus it is well possible that in case of such a person, through
negligence, the attainments will become perturbed. This person is liable to
perturbation."
kusala: 'kammically wholesome' or 'profitable', salutary,
morally good, (skillful) Connotations of the term, according to Com. (Aṭṭhasālinī),
are: of good health, blameless, productive of favourable kamma-result,
skillful. It should be noted that Com. excludes the meaning 'skillful', when
the term is applied to states of consciousness.
It is defined in M. 9 as the 10
wholesome courses of action (s. kammapatha).
In psychological terms, 'kammically wholesome' are all those kammical
volitions (kamma-cetanā) and
the consciousness and mental factors associated therewith, which are
accompanied by 2 or 3 wholesome roots (s. mūla),
i.e. by greedlessness (alobha)
and hatelessness (adosa), and
in some cases also by non-delusion (amoha:
wisdom, understanding). Such states of consciousness are regarded as 'kammically
wholesome' as they are causes of favourable kamma results and contain the seeds
of a happy destiny or rebirth. From this explanation, two facts should be
noted: (1) it is volition that makes a state of consciousness, or an act,
'good' or 'bad'; (2) the moral criterion in Buddhism is the presence or absence
of the 3 wholesome or moral roots (s. mūla).
The above explanations refer to mundane
(lokiya, q.v.) wholesome
consciousness. Supermundane wholesome (lokuttara-kusala)
states, i.e. the four paths of sanctity (s. ariyapuggala), have as results only the corresponding
four fruitions; they do not constitute kamma, nor do they lead to rebirth, and
this applies also to the good actions of an Arahat (Tab. I, 73-80) and his
meditative states (Tab. 1, 81-89), which are all kammically inoperative
(functional; s. kiriya).
Kusala belongs
to a threefold division of all consciousness, as found in the Abhidhamma (Dhs.), into wholesome (kusala), unwholesome (akusala) and kammically neutral (avyākata), which is the first
of the triads (tika) in the Abhidhamma schedule (mātikā); s. Guide, pp.
4ff., 12ff; Vis.M. XIV, 83ff.
kusala-kammapatha: 'wholesome course of action'; s. kammapatha.
kusala-mūla: the 'wholesome roots' or 'roots of wholesome
action', are greedlessness (alobha),
hatelessness (adosa), and
non-delusion (amoha; s. mūla). They are identical with
kusala-hetu (s . paccaya, 1).
kusala-vipāka:
the (mental) 'kamma-result of
wholesome kamma' (s. kamma).
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