The Pali Text Society's Pali-English Dictionary

elements with space as a sixth element, and also where dh!tu is substituted for khandha (S iii.10). -- (c) In
the chain of causation (Pa&icca -- samupp!da) v. is conditioned by the sankh!ras and is itself a necessary
condition of n!ma -- r(pa (individuality). See e. g. S ii.4, 6, 8, 12 etc.; Vin i.1; Vism 545 sq.=VbhA 150;
Vism 558 sq.; VbhA 169 sq.; 192. -- At S ii.4=iii.61 viññ!*a (in the Pa&icca -- samupp!da) is defined in a
similar way to the defn under v. -- &&hiti (see c), viz. as a quality peculiar to (& underlying) each of the 6
senses: "katama' viññ!*a'? cha -- y -- ime viññ!*a -- k!y! (groups of v.), viz. cakkhu˚ sota˚ etc.," which
means that viññ!*a is the apperceptional or energizing principle, so to speak the soul or life (substratum,
animator, lifepotency) of the sensory side of individuality. It arises through the mutual relation of sense and
sense -- object (M iii.281, where also the 6 v. -- k!y!). As such it forms a factor of rebirth, as it is grouped
under upadhi (q. v.). Translations of S ii.4: Mrs. Rh. D. (K.S. ii.4) "consciousness"; Geiger (in Z. f. B.
iv.62) "Erkennen." (d) As one of the four !h!ras (q. v.) v. is considered as the material, food or cause,
through which comes rebirth (S ii.13; cp. B.Psy. p. 62). As such it is likened to seed in the field of action
(kamma) A i.223, and as entering (a body) at rebirth the phrase viññ!*assa avakkanti is used (D ii.63; S
ii.91). In this connection the expression pa&isandhi -- viññ!*a first appears in Ps i.52, and then in the
Commentaries (VbhA 192; cf. Vism 548, 659 pa&isandhicitta); in Vism 554=VbhA 163, the v., here said to
be located in the heart, is made out, at bodily death, "to quit its former 2 support 3 and proceed (pavattati) to
another by way of its mental object
-- 619 --
and other conditions." Another scholastic expression, both early and late, is abhisankh!ra -- v., or
"endowment consciousness," viz. the individual transmigrant or transmitted function (viññ!*a) which
supplies the next life with the accumulation of individual merit or demerit or indifference, as it is expressed
at Nd2 569a in defn of v. (on Sn 1055: ya' kiñci sampaj!n!si . . . panujja viññ!*a' bhave na ti&&he): puññ'
âbhisankh!ra -- sahagata -- viññ!*a', apuññ' . . ., !nejj' . . . -- Under the same heading at Nd2 569b we find
abhisankh!ra v. with ref. to the sot!patti -- stage, i. e. the beginning of salvation, where it is said that by the
gradual disappearance of abhis. -- v. there are still 7 existences left before n!ma -- r(pa (individuality)
entirely disappears. The climax of this development is "anup!di -- sesa nibb!na -- dhatu," or the nibb!na
stage without a remainder (parinibb!na), which is characterized not by an abhisankh!ra -- v., but by the
carimaka -- v., or the final vital spark, which is now going to be extinct. This passage is referred to at DhsA
357, where the first half is quoted literally. -- (e) As k!ya i. e. group, v. is considered psycho -- physically,
as a factor in senseperception (D iii.243, M iii.281, etc.), namely, the contact between sense -- organ and
object (medium, metazu/ was not taken into account) produces v. of sight, hearing etc. The three factors
constitute the v. -- k!ya of the given sense. And the v. is thus bound to bodily process as a catseye is
threaded on a string (D ii.76). Cp. above c. Other applications of the term v., both Canonical and
mediaeval: on details as to attributes and functions, see Vin i.13 (as one of the khandhas in its quality of
anatt!, cp. S iv.166 sq.); D iii.223 (as khandha); S ii.101 sq. (˚assa avakkanti); iii.53 sq. (˚assa gati, !gati,
cuti etc.); A i.223 sq.; iii.40; Sn 734 (ya' kiñci dukkha' sambhoti, sabba' viññ!*a -- paccay!), 1037 (n!ma
-- r(pa destroyed in consequence of v. destruction), 1073 (cavetha v. [so read for bhavetha]; v. at this
passage expld as "punappa&isandhi -- v." at Nd2 569c); 1110 (uparujjhati); Ps i.53 sq., 153 sq.; ii.102; Vbh
9 sq., 53 sq., 86; Nett 15 (n!ma -- r(pa v. -- sampayutta), 16 (v. -- hetuka n. -- r.), 17 (nirodha), 28, 79, 116
(as khandha); Vism 529 (as simple, twofold, fourfold etc.), 545=VbhA 150 sq. (in detail as product of
sankh!ras & in 32 groups); VbhA 172 (twofold: vip!ka & avip!ka); DhA iv.100. -- ânañc'!yatana
infinitude ( -- sphere) of life -- force or mind -- matter D i.35, 184, 223; iii.224, 262, 265; Nett 26, 39. It is
the second of the 4ruppa -- jh!nas; see jh!na. -- !h!ra consciousness (i. e. vital principle) sustenance: see
above d and cp. Dhs 70, 126; Nett 114 sq.; Vism 341. -- k!ya: see above e. -- khandha life -- force as one of
the aggregates of physical life D iii.233; Tikp 61; DhsA 141; VbhA 21, 42. -- &&hiti viññ!*a -- duration,
phase of mental life. The emphasis is on duration or continuation rather than place, which would be &&h!na.
There are (a) 4 v. -- durations with regard to their "storing" (abhisankh!ra) quality, viz. combinations of v.
(as the governing, mind -- principle) with each of the 4 other khandhas or aggregates of material life (r(pa,
vedan!, saññ!, sankh!r!), v. animating or bringing them to consciousness in any kind of life -- appearance;
and (b) 7 v. -- durations with regard to their "regenerating" (new -- life combn or rebirth=pa&isandhi)
quality, viz. the 4 planes of var. beings (from men to devas), followed by the 3 super -- dimensional stages
(the !nañc' !yatanas) of !k!sa -- infinitude, viññ!*a -- infin. & !kiñ -- cañña -- infin. -- Passages in the
Canon: (a) as 4: D 1 i.262 sq.; S iii.53 sq. ("standing for consciousness" & "platform," ˚pati&&h! S iii.54;