19.4 Of Attainment (patti) (KV19.4)

Controverted Point: That attainment is unconditioned.

Is similar to Kv 19.3 PTS CS 19.3.1 in the foregoing.

Theravādin: Again, do you imply that the winning through gifts of raiment, almsfood, lodging, medicine, is unconditioned? But if so, the same difficulty arises as in the case of attainment in general (PTS CS 19.4.1). In fact, you would have in these four and Nibbāna five “unconditioneds”.

A similar argument is used for the winning of any of the Rūpa Jhānas (4), or of the Arūpa Jhānas (4), or of the Four Paths and Four Fruits, concluding with: In fact, you would have in these eight and Nibbāna nine “unconditioneds”, etc.

Pubbaseliya: But if I am wrong, can you identify winning with any one of the five aggregates, bodily or mental?

If not, then it is unconditioned.

The Points of Controversy, an English translation of the Pali Abhidhamma Kathāvatthu. Translated by Shwe Zan Aung and C.A.F. Rhys Davids. First published by Pali Text Society, 1915.

This SuttaCentral edition was prepared by Manfred Wierich and Ven. Vimala and proofread by Josephine Tobin. Some changes were introduced:

Abbreviations, i.e., those of cited works and the participants in the controversies, were expanded.

Cross-references were linked.

Some typographic changes were introduced, among others, i.e.: the phonetic symbol “ŋ” was changed to the Pāli diacritical letter “ṃ”, “ô” to “o”, single quotes to double quotes, and “:—” to “:”.

Letter-spacing with fixed spaces was replaced with bold font.

The corrigenda were merged into the text. Some could not be resolved, though.

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