5.6 Of Popular Knowledge (KV5.6)

Controverted Point: That it is wrong to say: Popular knowledge has only truth as its object and nothing else.

Andhaka: You admit, do you not, that one who attains Jhāna by way of the earth-artifice, has knowledge? Does not that earth-artifice come under popular truth?

Theravādin: Yes.

Andhaka: Then why exempt popular knowledge from the search for truth?

The same argument applies to the other artifices, and to gifts as stated above (Kv 5.5).

Theravādin: Then according to you, popular knowledge has only Truth as its object. But is it the object of popular knowledge to understand the fact and nature of Ill, to put away the Cause, to realize the Cessation, to develop the Path thereto? You must deny. (Hence the need for a distinction between truths.)

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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