Volition and the Mental Factor
The first continuous prose from our own Visuddhimagga translation in this course: Sīlaniddesa's own answer to its first question, "what is virtue?" This short passage happens to touch nearly everything Part II taught — case syncretism, three separate present participles, a sandhi contraction, and two different compound types in one sentence.
The Passage
This is the exact text and translation from our Sīlaniddesa page — nothing simplified or altered for teaching purposes. Read it once for sense using the English, then move to the word-by-word breakdown below.
Tatridaṃ vissajjanaṃ. Kiṃ sīlanti pāṇātipātādīhi vā viramantassa vattapaṭipattiṃ vā pūrentassa cetanādayo dhammā. Vuttañhetaṃ paṭisambhidāyaṃ "kiṃ sīlanti cetanā sīlaṃ, cetasikaṃ sīlaṃ, saṃvaro sīlaṃ, avītikkamo sīla"nti (Paṭis I.39).
Tattha cetanā sīlaṃ nāma pāṇātipātādīhi vā viramantassa vattapaṭipattiṃ vā pūrentassa cetanā. Cetasikaṃ sīlaṃ nāma pāṇātipātādīhi viramantassa virati. Apica cetanā sīlaṃ nāma pāṇātipātādīni pajahantassa satta kammapathacetanā. Cetasikaṃ sīlaṃ nāma "abhijjhaṃ pahāya vigatābhijjhena cetasā viharatī"ti (DN I.217) ādinā nayena vuttā anabhijjhābyāpādasammādiṭṭhidhammā.
Here now is the answer. As to "what is virtue" — it is the states beginning with volition, in one who abstains from killing living beings and so on, or who fulfills the observance of duties. For this was said in the Paṭisambhidā: "What is virtue? Volition is virtue, the mental factor is virtue, restraint is virtue, non-transgression is virtue" (Paṭis I.39).
Herein, "volition is virtue" means the volition in one who abstains from killing living beings and so on, or who fulfills the observance of duties. "The mental factor is virtue" means the abstinence in one who abstains from killing living beings and so on. And further, "volition is virtue" also means the seven volitions of the courses of action, in one who abandons killing living beings and the rest. "The mental factor is virtue" also means the states of non-covetousness, non-ill-will, and right view, spoken of by the method beginning, "having abandoned covetousness, he dwells with a mind free from covetousness" (DN I.217).
Word by Word
Two forms in this passage go slightly beyond what Part II formally taught, and it's worth naming them rather than glossing over them. Idaṃ (inside tatridaṃ, "here now [is]") is "this," a demonstrative stem related to but distinct from Lesson 9's ta- ("that") — the same case/gender/number system, a different stem, not yet covered on its own. And pahāya ("having abandoned") is an absolutive built with -ya rather than Lesson 14's -tvā, a variant ending that shows up especially with certain prefixed verbs. Neither is a mistake or an exception to what you've learned — they're simply two small corners Part II didn't have room to cover, exactly the kind of gap a reading track is supposed to surface honestly rather than paper over.
What This Passage Confirms
- Lesson 6/7 case endings — a-stem accusative (vattapaṭipattiṃ), ā-stem nominative-equals-plural ambiguity (satta kammapathacetanā), and the alternate ā-stem locative -āyaṃ (paṭisambhidāyaṃ), all appearing in a single short passage of real prose.
- Lesson 8's i-stem plural — pāṇātipātādīhi's -īhi ending, used twice.
- Lesson 10 and 15's kiṃ...-nti pattern — sīlanti, identical in structure to the seven-question matrix you decoded in Lesson 10.
- Lesson 11's present tense — viharati, the plain regular pattern, unremarkable precisely because you now expect it to be.
- Lesson 14's participles — three separate present participles and one past participle (vuttaṃ) in a few lines.
- Lessons 16–17's compounds — a tappurisa (vattapaṭipatti), a bahubbīhi (cetanādayo), and another compound (kammapathacetanā) side by side.
Continuing From Here
Sīlaniddesa's full translation is now complete on its own page, far beyond what any single reading here could cover. Future readings will keep drawing new passages from it — and from whatever this project translates next — each annotated the way this one was.