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Sāriputta Thera and his analytical knowledge (paṭisambhidā ปฏิสัมภิทา ๔)
Sāriputta Thera and his analytical knowledge (paṭisambhidā ปฏิสัมภิทา ๔)
ปฏิสัมภิทา การวิเคราะห์ (paṭisambhidā)
Discrimination; analytical knowledge; discriminating knowledge.
(๑๕๔) ปฏิสัมภิทา ๔ (ปัญญาแตกฉาน - analytic insight; discrimination)
๑. อัตถปฏิสัมภิทา (ปัญญา แตกฉานในอรรถ, ปรีชาแจ้งในความหมาย, เห็นข้อธรรมหรือความย่อ ก็สามารถแยกแยะอธิบายขยายออกไปได้โดยพิสดาร เห็นเหตุอย่างหนึ่ง ก็สามารถแยกแยะอธิบายขยายออกไปได้โดยพิสดาร เห็นเหตุอย่างหนึ่ง ก็สามารถคิดแยกแยะกระจายเชื่อมโยงต่อออกไปได้จนล่วงรู้ถึงผล - discrimination of meanings; analytic insight of consequence)
๒. ธัมมปฏิสัมภิทา (ปัญญา แตกฉานในธรรม, ปรีชาแจ้งใจหลัก, เห็นอรรถาธิบายพิสดาร ก็สามารถจับใจความมาตั้งเป็นกระทู้หรือหัวข้อได้ เห็นผลอย่างหนึ่ง ก็สามารถสืบสาวกลับไปหาเหตุได้ - discrimination of ideas; analytic insight of origin)
๓. นิรุตติปฏิสัมภิทา (ปัญญา แตกฉานในนิรุกติ, ปรีชาแจ้งในภาษา, รู้ศัพท์ ถ้อยคำบัญญัติ และภาษาต่างๆ เข้าใจใช้คำพูดชี้แจ้งให้ผู้อื่นเข้าใจและเห็นตามได้ - discrimination of language; analytic insight of philology)
๔. ปฏิภาณปฏิสัมภิทา (ปัญญา แตกฉานในปฏิภาณ. ปรีชาแจ้งในความคิดทันการ มีไหวพริบ ซึมซาบในความรู้ที่มีอยู่ เอามาเชื่อมโยงเข้าสร้างความคิดและเหตุผลขึ้นใหม่ ใช้ประโยชน์ได้สมเหมาะ เข้ากับกรณีเข้ากับเหตุการณ์ - discrimination of sagacity; analytic insight of ready wit; initiative; creative and applicative insight)
A.II.160; Ps.I.119; Vbh.294. องฺ.จตุกฺก.๒๑/๑๗๒/๒๑๖; ขุ.ปฏิ.๓๑/๒๖๘/๑๗๕; อภิ.วิ.๓๕/๗๘๔/๔๐๐.
atthapaṭisambhidā
Analytical understanding of the significance, essence and meaning of things.
dhammapaṭisambhidā
Analytical understanding of the nature of the Dhamma, of the causation law, by means of language.
niruttipaṭisambhidā
Analytical understanding within a philological approach of the Dhamma. Deep understanding of the mode of language expression that is being utilised in connection with reality (grammar, etymology, gathering of sentences, etc.)
paṭibhānapaṭisambhidā
Analytical understanding of well-structured rhetoric and discourses, perspicuous and witty, destined to make the Dhamma easily understood by others.
* * *
To our Lord Buddha, the fourfold analytical knowledge is found in connection with him on several occasions, during forty-five years of his teaching career. In the Aṅguttara Nikāya, the Buddha once claims his birth as the birth of glorious qualities—the realization of the fourfold analytical knowledge is one of them.[26]
“O bhikkhus, the birth of one person is the birth of great eye, the birth of great light, the birth of great illumination and the birth of six supremacies. That is the realization of the fourfold analytical knowledge, the penetration of many elements, the penetration of different elements and the realization of the fruition produced by emancipation and wisdom...”
On other occasions, the Buddha describes the fourfold analytical knowledge with reference to his disciples such as the venerable Sāriputta, the venerable Mahākoṭṭhita and others, the detail of which is described in the following headings.
The venerable Sāriputta, the General of Dhamma (Dhammasenāpati), was approved by the Buddha of being possessed of the fourfold analytical knowledge.
‘Endowed with seven factors[29], bhikkhus’, the Buddha said, ‘Sāriputta, having penetrated, having realized and having entered the fourfold analytical knowledge with direct knowledge, abides therein’ (Sattahi bhikkhave, dhammehi samannāgato Sāriputto catasso paṭisambhidā sayaṃ abhiññā sacchikatvā upasampajja viharati)[30].
Concerning his attainment to analytical knowledge ( paṭisambhidā-ñāna), the Venerable Sāriputta speaks of it in the Anguttara Nikāya (Fours, No. 172), where he says:
"It was half a month after my ordination, friends that I realized, in all their parts and details, the analytical knowledge of meaning, the analytical knowledge of the Dhamma, the analytical knowledge of language, the analytical knowledge of perspicuity. These I expound in many ways, teach them and make them known, establish and reveal them, explain and clarify them. If anyone has any doubt or uncertainty, he may ask me and I shall explain (the matter). Present is the Master who is well acquainted with our attainments."
From all of this it is evident that the Venerable Sāriputta was a master of all the stages of attainment up to and including the highest insight-knowledge. What could be more aptly said of him than this, in the Buddha's own words:
"If one could ever say rightly of one that he has come to mastery and perfection in noble virtue, in noble concentration, in noble wisdom and noble liberation, it is of Sāriputta that one could thus rightly declare.
"If one could ever say rightly of one that he is the Blessed One's true son, born of his speech, born of the Dhamma, formed of the Dhamma, heir to the Dhamma, not heir to worldly benefit, it is Sāriputta that one could thus rightly declare.
"After me, O monks, Sāriputta rightly turns the supreme Wheel of Dhamma, even as I have turned it."
— Majjh. 111, Anupada Sutta
Another important figure who deserves such declaration, even more admirable, from the Buddha, is the venerable Mahākoṭṭhita. Amidst the Sangha, he was once declared by the Buddha to be foremost among bhikkhu noble disciples who attain the fourfold analytical knowledge. Here is the Buddha’s Word:
‘Etadaggaṃ, bhikkhave, mama sāvakānaṃ bhikkhūnaṃ paṭisambhidāpattānaṃ yadidaṃ Mahākoṭṭhito”[31], that means, “O monks, of my bhikkhu noble disciples who attain the analytical knowledge, Mahākoṭṭhita is foremost”.
It has been also observed that all Theras and Therīs mentioned in the Apadāna possess the fourfold analytical knowledge. They declare at the end of their utterance the analytical knowledge together with the eight attainments and the sixfold direct knowledge: “Paṭisambhidā catasso, vimokkhāpi aṭṭhime; chaḷabhiññā sacchikatā, katā Buddhassa sāsanaṃ” viz. “the fourfold analytical knowledge, the eight types of deliverance and the sixfold direct knowledge have been realized; the Buddha’s teaching has been accomplished”.
Moreover, when we read the stories related to many Theras during the Buddha’s lifetime, and of the later period described in commentaries, particularly the Dhammapada commentary, we often see the passage “saha paṭisambhidāhi arahattaṃ pāpuṇāti”, “he attains the Arahatship together with the analytical knowledge”.
Many Suttas in the Aṅguttara Nikāya also describe the fourfold analytical knowledge. The Vādīsutta[37] makes known to us that he who is endowed with the fourfold analytical knowledge never gets exhausted from the aspect of expression (byañjanato) and explanation (atthato). Another Sutta, the Paṭisambhidāpattasutta[38] by name, also makes known to us that a monk is loved and respected by his fellows in the holy life if he possesses the fourfold analytical knowledge, and if he is diligent and skilful in works.
The fourfold analytical knowledge is then seen in the Paṭhamapaṭisambhidāsutta[39]. In this Sutta, the Master makes sure to his disciples that the fourfold analytical knowledge can be soon achieved if a bhikkhu is possessed of the seven factors[40] of comprehension. Following this Sutta is the Dutiyapaṭisambhidāsutta[41] where the fourfold analytical knowledge is found in connection with the venerable Sāriputta, the General of Dhamma. The venerable Sāriputta is declared by the Buddha there as the one who is endowed with the seven necessary factors for the attainment of the fourfold analytical knowledge, and as the one who, having realized, penetrated and entered upon the fourfold analytical knowledge, abides therein.
The fourfold analytical knowledge is again found in connection with the venerable Sāriputta in the Vibhattisutta. There, the venerable Sāriputta tells his companions about his penetration of the fourfold analytical knowledge and his ability to expound the Dhamma for clearing doubt in the mind of questioner. He reveals that he attains the fourfold analytical knowledge by way of cause (odhiso) and by way of letter (byañjanaso) on the fifteenth day after his higher ordination, and could speak of them, expound them, make them known, make them arise, explain them, analyze them and make them occur with various methods.[42]
Another Sutta by name of Akuppasutta[43] describes the fourfold analytical knowledge as an indispensable condition for the attainment of Arahatship. The Buddha therein says that the monk who possesses the fourfold analytical knowledge, and reflects on the mind in accordance with liberation, not before long, penetrates the imperturbable state, the Arahatship.
The complete mention of the Paṭhamapaṭisambhidāsutta[2] will be described to elucidate the seven factors or causes that lead to the attainment of the fourfold analytical knowledge. At one time, the Buddha said:
“O bhikkhus, a bhikkhu is endowed with seven factors, before long, he himself, having comprehended, having realized and having entered the fourfold analytical knowledge, abides therein (Sattahi, bhikkhave, dhammehi samannāgato bhikkhu nacirasseva catasso paṭisambhidā sayaṃ abhiññā sacchikatvā upasampajja vihareyya). What seven? Here, O bhikkhus, a bhikkhu:
1) Knows correctly thus: ‘this is sluggish state in me’ (‘idaṃ me cetaso līnattan’ti yathābhūtaṃ pajānāti),
2) Knows correctly the internally constricted mind[3] thus: ‘there is the internally constricted mind in me’ (ajjhattaṃ saṃkhittaṃ vā cittaṃ ‘ajjhattaṃ me saṃkhittaṃ cittan’ti yathābhūtaṃ pajānāti),
3) Knows correctly the externally distracted mind[4] thus: ‘there is the externally distracted mind in me’ (bahiddhā vikkhittaṃ vā cittaṃ ‘bahiddhā me vikkhittaṃ cittan’ti yathābhūtaṃ pajānāti),
4) To him the feelings that arise, exist and pass away are comprehensible (tassa viditā vedanā uppajjanti, viditā upaṭṭhahanti, viditā abbhatthaṃ gacchanti),
5) To him the perceptions that arise, exist and pass away are comprehensible (viditā saññā uppajjanti, viditā upaṭṭhahanti, viditā abbhatthaṃ gacchanti),
6) To him the thoughts that arise, exist and pass away are comprehensible (viditā vitakkā uppajjanti, viditā upaṭṭhahanti, viditā abbhatthaṃ gacchanti),
7) He clearly perceives, clearly takes a mental note of, wisely contemplates and penetrates with wisdom the sign[5] of what is proper, what is improper, what is inferior, what is superior, what is defiled and what is purified (sappāyāsappāyesu kho panassa dhammesu hīnappaṇītesu kaṇhasukkasappatibhāgesu nimittaṃ suggahitaṃ hoti sumanasikataṃ sūpadhāritaṃ suppaṭividdhaṃ paññāya).
O bhikkhus, a bhikkhu is endowed with these seven factors, before long he himself, having comprehended, having realized and having entered upon the fourfold analytical knowledge, abides therein”.
[2] A. II. 422
[3] “The internally constricted mind is the mind with sloth-and-torpor” (Ajjhattaṃ saṃkhittaṃ nāma thinamiddhānugataṃ) [AA. III. 163]
[4] “The externally distracted mind is the mind distracted by five kinds of sense-pleasure” (Bahiddhā vikkhittaṃ nāma pañcasu kāmaguṇesu vikkhittaṃ) [AA. III. 163]
Sources:
CATUPAṬISAMBHIDĀ IN THERAVĀDA BUDDHISM
(THE FOURFOLD ANALYTICAL KNOWLEDGE IN PĀḶI LITERATURE)
Bhikkhu Kusalaguṇa
(Le Xuan Do)
http://www.budsas.org/ebud/catu/catu00.htm
The Life of Sariputta
compiled and translated from the Pali texts by
Nyanaponika Thera
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/nyanaponika/wheel090.html
Akuppa Sutta: Discourse on the Unshakeable
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/an/an05/an05.095.niza.html
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