21.1 Of our Religion (KV21.1)

Controverted Point: That our religion is (has been and may again be) reformed.

Theravādin: What, then, has been reformed—the Applications in Mindfulness? the Supreme Efforts? the Steps to Iddhi? the Moral Controls? the Moral Forces? the Seven Branches of Enlightenment? Or was that made good which had been bad? Or was that which was allied with vicious things—Intoxicants, Fetters, Ties, Floods, Yokes, Hindrances, Infections, Graspings, Corruptions—made free herefrom? You deny all this, but your proposition as stated implies one or the other.

Or do you mean that anyone has reformed the religion founded by the Tathāgata? If so, in which of the doctrines enumerated has he effected a reform? Again you deny … .

Or if you hold that the religion may again be reformed, what in it is there that admits of reformation?

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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