Nyanatiloka Buddhist Dictionary

In Vibh. it is further said: 'The knowledge of suffering is the 'analytical knowledge' of thetrue meaning (attha-patisambhidá), the knowledge of its origin is the 'analytical knowledge'of the law (dhamma-patisambhidá). The knowledge of the cause is the 'analytical knowledge'of the law (dhamma-patisambhidá), the knowledge of the result of the cause is the 'analyticalknowledge' of the true meaning (attha-patisambhidá)... That the monk knows the law, thesunas etc. this is called the 'analytical knowledge' of the law (dhamma-patisambhidá); ifhowever, he understands the meaning of this or that speech... it is called the 'analyticalknowledge' of the true meaning (attha-patisambhidá).'(3) " 'The knowledge of the language concerning those things' means: the languagecorresponding to reality, and the unfailing mode of expression concerning the true meaningand the law.(4) " 'Knowledge about the kinds of knowledges' is that knowledge which has all knowledgesas object and considers them. Or, the analytical knowledge of ready wit(patibhána-patisambhidá) means the knowledge of the above mentioned 3 kinds of knowledge,in all their details, with their objects, functions, etc." (Vis.M. XIV).On the 7 qualities leading to the attainment of the 4 'analytical knowledge' , s. A. VII, 37 -See Vis.M. XIV, 21ff; Vibh. XV; Pts.M. Patisambhidá Kathá.patisandhi: lit. 'reunion, relinking', i.e. rebirth, is one of the 14 functions of consciousness(viññána-kicca, q.v.). It is a karma-resultant type of consciousness and arises at the momentof conception i.e. with the forming of new life in the mother's womb. Immediatelyafterwards it sinks into the subconscious stream of existence (bhavangasota, q.v.), andconditioned thereby ever and ever again corresponding states of subconsciousness arise.Thus it is really rebirth-consciousness that determines the latent character of a person."Neither has this (rebirth-) consciousness transmigrated from the previous existence to thispresent existence, nor did it arise without such conditions, as karma, karma-formations,propensity, object, etc. That this consciousness has not come from the previous existence tothis present existence, yet that it has come into existence by means of conditions included inthe previous existence, such as karma (q.v.), etc., this fact may be illustrated by variousthings, such as the echo, the light of a lamp, the impression of a seal, or the image producedby a mirror. For just as the resounding of the echo is conditioned by a sound, etc., andnowhere a transmigration of sound has taken place, just so it is with this consciousness.Further it is said: 'In this continuous process, no sameness and no otherness can be found.'For if there were full identity (between the different stages), then also milk never couldturn into curd. And if there were a complete otherness, then curd could never come frommilk.... If in a continuity of existence any karma-result takes place, then this karma-resultneither belongs to any other being, nor does it come from any other (kamma), becauseabsolute sameness and otherness are excluded here" (Vis, XVII 164ff).In Mil. it is said:"Now, Venerable Nágasena, the one who is reborn, is he the same as the one who has died, oris he another?"