The Third Ultimate Reality

Thus far, consciousness and mental factors, together with their divisions and modes of occurrence, have been analyzed; matter will now be spoken of. Herein, the compendium is fivefold: enumeration, classification, origination, grouping, and the procedure of occurrence.

Matter is twofold: the four great essentials, and matter derived from the four great essentials. This, together, falls into eleven categories.

How? (1) The earth element, water element, fire element, and air element are called the essential phenomena. (2) The eye, ear, nose, tongue, and body are called the sensitive phenomena. (3) Visible form, sound, smell, taste, and tangibility — the latter being the three essentials excluding the water element — are called the objective phenomena. (4) Femininity and masculinity are called the sexual phenomena. (5) The heart-base is called the heart phenomenon. (6) The life faculty is called the life phenomenon. (7) Edible food is called the nutriment phenomenon.

Thus these eighteen kinds, together, fall under: matter having intrinsic nature, matter having real characteristics, concretely produced matter, material matter, and matter to be comprehended [by insight].

(8) The space element is called the limiting phenomenon. (9) Bodily intimation and vocal intimation are called the intimating phenomena. (10) Lightness, malleability, and wieldiness of matter, together with the two intimations, are called the mutable phenomena. (11) Production, continuity, decay, and impermanence of matter are called the characteristic phenomena. Herein, the phenomenon of birth itself is spoken of under the two names production and continuity.

Thus these eleven categories of matter amount, by their specific forms, to twenty-eight. How?

The essentials, sensitivities, objects, sex, and the heart, together with the phenomena of life and of nutriment: thus eighteen kinds [of concrete matter]. Limitation, intimation, mutability, and characteristics: thus ten that are not concretely produced. Thus it comes to twenty-eight. Herein, this is the enumeration of matter.

All this matter, though singlefold in that it is entirely rootless, conditioned, subject to taints, formed, mundane, sense-sphere, objectless, and not-to-be-abandoned, becomes manifold when divided by way of internal-and-external and the like.

The twelve reckoned as the sensitivities and their objects are gross, proximate, and impinging matter; the rest are subtle, distant, and non-impinging.

Matter born of kamma is "clung-to"; the rest is "not clung-to." The visible-form base is visible matter; the rest is invisible.

The eye and ear, by way of not reaching [their object], and the nose, tongue, and body, by way of reaching it — these five are matter that grasps an object; the rest is matter that does not grasp an object.

Colour, smell, taste, nutritive essence, and the fourfold essentials — these eight are inseparable matter; the rest is separable.

Thus the wise divide the twenty-eight kinds, each in its fitting way, by such distinctions as internal and the rest. Herein, this is the classification of matter.

Kamma, consciousness, temperature, and nutriment: these are called the four origins of matter.

Herein, the twenty-five kinds of sense-sphere and fine-material-sphere wholesome and unwholesome kamma produce, in the internal continuum, kamma-born matter, moment by moment, beginning with rebirth-linking.

The seventy-five types of consciousness — excluding the immaterial resultants and the two sets of fivefold sense-consciousness — produce consciousness-born matter, beginning with the first life-continuum, but only at the arising [sub-moment].

The fire element, known as cold and heat, on reaching the stage of presence, produces temperature-born matter, internal and external, according to circumstance.

Nutriment, known as nutritive essence, on reaching the stage of presence at the time of being swallowed, produces nutriment-born matter.

Eighteen, fifteen, thirteen, and twelve arise, respectively, from kamma, consciousness, temperature, and nutriment. It is declared that the characteristics do not arise from anything at all, since their intrinsic nature consists solely in [marking] the arising and so forth [of the other phenomena]. Herein, this is the method of the origination of matter.

Arising together, ceasing together, having one basis, occurring together: these are called the twenty-one material groups.

Herein, life and the inseparable phenomena, together with the eye, are called the eye decad. Likewise, joined in turn with the ear and the rest: the ear decad, nose decad, tongue decad, body decad, femininity decad, masculinity decad, and heart-base decad. The inseparable phenomena together with life alone are called the vital nonad. These nine groups originate from kamma.

Nine, six, four, and two: thus twenty-one material groups arise, in due order, from kamma, consciousness, temperature, and nutriment. The wise declare that space and the characteristics, being [merely] the delimiter and the marks of a group, are not themselves members of any material group. Herein, this is the composition of the groups.

All these material phenomena are obtained without deficiency, according to circumstance, in the sense-sphere world during the course of existence. But at rebirth-linking, for moisture-born and spontaneously-born beings, at most seven decads appear — the decads of eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, sex, and the heart-base.

For womb-born beings, however, three decads appear — the decads of body, sex, and the heart-base.

Thus the continuity of material groups, produced by four origins — kamma-born from rebirth-linking, consciousness-born from the second citta, temperature-born from the stage of presence, nutriment-born from the spreading of nutritive essence — flows on unbroken in the sense-sphere world, for as long as life lasts, like the flame of a lamp or the current of a river.

But at the time of death, kamma-born matter ceases to arise from the stage of presence of the seventeenth citta before the death consciousness onward. Kamma-born matter that had already arisen continues right up to the moment of death, and then ceases. After that, consciousness-born and nutriment-born matter is also cut off. After that, a succession of temperature-born matter continues on, in the form of what is called the corpse.

In the sense-sphere, twenty-eight [kinds of matter] are found; in the fine-material [sphere], twenty-three; among the non-percipient, seventeen; in the immaterial, none at all. At the moment of arising, sound, mutability, decay, and death are not found; but in the course of existence, there is nothing that is not found. Herein, this is the procedure of the occurrence of matter.

Nibbāna, reckoned as supramundane, is to be realized by the knowledge of the four paths; it is the object of the paths and fruits. It is called Nibbāna because it is a departure from craving, [craving] being reckoned as an entanglement.

This, though one according to its intrinsic nature, is twofold by way of basis: the Nibbāna-element with residue remaining, and the Nibbāna-element without residue remaining. Likewise, it is threefold by way of aspect: void, signless, and desireless.

The great seers, freed from entanglement, declare this state to be Nibbāna: undying, endless, unformed, unsurpassed.

Thus consciousness, mental factors, matter, and Nibbāna — as fourfold do the Tathāgatas reveal ultimate reality.

Thus ends, in the Compendium of the Things Contained in the Abhidhamma, the sixth chapter, called the Compendium of Matter.