3.3 Of Emancipation (KV3.3)

Controverted Point: That “becoming emancipated” has reference to the heart being at the time in touch with lust etc.

Theravādin: You affirm this. Then you must equally affirm that “becoming emancipated” refers to a heart which is accompanied by, co-existent with, mixed with, associated with, has developed with, goes about with, lust; to a heart, again, which is immoral, worldly, in touch with intoxicants, allied with fetters, ties, floods, bonds, hindrances, is infected, allied with grasping, corrupt—which you refuse to do.

If the heart or mind which is in contact be emancipated, are both contact and mind emancipated? “Yes” you say. But then you must equally affirm that, if the heart which is in touch with lust be emancipated, both lust and heart are emancipated—which you refuse to do.

The same reasoning holds good not only of contact, but also of the other properties of the mind—feeling, perception, volition,… reason, or understanding.

Once more, if mind which is in contact, and in touch with lust, be emancipated, are both contact and mind emancipated? Yes, you say. But then you must equally affirm that both lust and mind are emancipated—which you refuse to do.

The same reasoning holds good of the other properties of the mind.

The same argument is then applied to “emancipation” referred to “hate”, and to “nescience or delusion”—the other two of the fundamental conditions of evil doing.

Andhaka: You say that we are wrong in affirming that a mind full of lust, hate and nescience undergoes emancipation. But your denial that a mind which is devoid of all three undergoes emancipation rather confirms our view.

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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