9.6 Of Past Ideas (KV9.6)

Controverted Point: That consciousness of a past object is without object.

Theravādin: But you admit that there is such a thing as a mental object that is past? Then how can you make such a self-contradictory statement? Again, is there not adverting of mind, ideation, co-ordinated application, attention, volition, anticipation, aim, concerning that which is past? … .

Controverted Point: That a consciousness, having an idea that is future, is without object.

These paragraphs are verbatim as in PTS CS 9.6.1 and PTS CS 9.6.2, “future” substituted for “past”.

Theravādin: continues: You admit of course concerning what is present, that there can be adverting of mind, ideation, and so on (PTS CS 9.6.2), so that consciousness of a present idea has its mental object. And you admit that there can be adverting of mind and the rest about the past and also about the future. Yet in both these cases mind, you say, is without mental object. Why not also say then that, while there can be adverting of mind, etc., about the present, mind occupied about a present object is mind without object?

Andhaka: But you admit that a “past object” does not exist at the present moment? Surely then a mind occupied with past object is occupied with no (that is, with a non-existent) object … .

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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Note by Bhante Sujato: In the original English translation, the second part from PTS CS 9.6.3 onwards was in a separate section, Kv.9.7. This appears to be a mistake, and I have followed the Mahāsaṅgīti edition in combining these. This means that all subsequent sections in this vagga are numbered one less than the original.