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Intrauterine Dependent Origination: A Translation of the Indakasutta and its Commentaries

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Abstract

The Indakasutta, its commentary (aṭṭhakathā), and sub-commentary (purāṇa-ṭīkā) describe and discuss the phases of intrauterine development. By adopting a terminology remarkably comparable to that of other Buddhist and non-Buddhist texts, they illustrate fundamental Buddhist teachings like the non-self (anattā) view and the dependent arising (paṭiccasamuppāda). I here offer a translation of these three texts, preceded by an introductory outline of their contents.

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Notes

  1. Here I am considering only the Pāli version of the Indakasutta. In the northern tradition, the parallel discourse occurs in the Devaputra-saṃyukta, leading to the hypothesis that Indaka/Indra might have originally been a devaputta/devaputra and not a yakkha/yakṣa (Bingenheimer, 2020, p. 767). Cases where yakkhas are in Pāli texts but not in their parallels are found in other discourses of the Yakkhasaṃyutta, like the Sudattasutta (S CST4 I.242, PTS I.210), wherein there is the yakkha Sivaka, who becomes an unnamed devatā in the Saṃyukta-āgama (Bingenheimer, 2020, p. 769).

  2. Or “Conception, coming down (into a womb)” (Cone, 2001, s.v. avakkhanti). Boisvert, based on the definitions occurring in the Papañcasūdanī, points out that in the compound gabbhāvakkhanti the term gabbha can refer not only to the womb, but to what descends into the womb too (Boisvert, 2000, p. 303).

  3. The descent into the womb in relationship with awareness (sampajañña) is also mentioned, with some variants, in the Acchariyaabbhutasutta of the Majjhima Nikāya (M 123, CST4 III.202-206, PTS III.120-124), in the Bhūmicālasutta of the Aṅguttara Nikāya (A CST4 VIII.70, PTS IV.314), and in the parallel section of bhūmicāla in the Mahāparinibbānasutta (D 16, CST4 II.171, PTS II.108).

  4. Cf. the Sanskrit parallel in the Prasādanīyasūtra at DĀ 16.15 and the Chinese 自歡喜經 (Zì huānxǐ jīng) at T I 77a11 (DiSimone, 2016, pp. 145–146).

  5. The Sumaṅgalavilāsinī (D-a CST4 III.147, PTS III.886) attributes this continuity of awareness to the fact that bodhisattas are omniscient (sabbaññu). On the special intrauterine life of a bodhisatta see Dutt (1978, pp. 77–78).

  6. See a comparative table of the terminology adopted in these texts in Kritzer (2009, p. 76). On the progression in the Agnipurāṇa, see also Couture (2009, p. 16).

  7. According to von Hinüber (2020, p. 10) the whole Yakkhasaṃyutta presents the adaptation of material which was “pre-Buddhist or originated outside Buddhism.”

  8. AvS 118, transl. in Samtani (2002, p. 83); AvS-N 121, Samtani (2002, p. 86).

  9. The linking of consciousness to rebirth at the descent into the womb and its relationship with the kalala is further explained in the commentaries (Vasubandhu’s Abhidharmakośabhāṣya and Yaśomitra’s Sphuṭārthā Abhidharmakośavyākhyā; Voroshilov, 2020, pp. 53–54, 155, n. xiv).

  10. Respectively at the early stages and at the seventh month (Kritzer, 2009, pp. 74–75).

  11. The answer of the Buddha to Indaka in the root-text is quoted in the Kathāvatthu, the Abhidhamma book specifically designed to address heretical views (Kv CST4 692, PTS 494), and according to its aṭṭhakathā it is meant to refute the views on rebirth of the Pubbaseliyas and Aparaseliyas (Kv-a CST4 691-692, PTS 148, cf. DPPN s.v. pubbaseliyā). However, the idea of the birth “in one single stroke” (ekappahareneva) does not easily align with the doctrine that the Kathāvatthu or other texts ascribe to the Puggalavādins (cf. Ronkin, 2005, p. 117; Kapstein, 2001, p. xvii; Duerlinger, 2003; passim, Cousins, 1992, 2001, passim, and Priestley, 1999, passim).

  12. Buddhaghosa emphasizes this absence in its explanation of ‘empty’ (suñña) in the pattern of the four truths on suffering (Vism CST4 567 PTS 513 and Vibh-a CST4 189, PTS 89-90).

  13. See for instance the twelvefold contemplation of the world as empty in the Cūḷaniddesa, in the comment to the stanza 1125 of the Suttanipāta (CNidd CST4 88). In the Mahāniddesa, a list including puggala, jīva, nara, satta etc. is used to gloss the term yakkha (MNidd CST4 11.110, PTS II.282), which Bhikkhu Bodhi translates as “spirit” (Bodhi, 2017, p. 1146).

  14. For an explanation of anattā as lacking a core (asārakaṭṭhena) and with regard to each link of the paṭiccasamuppāda, see for instance the Sutamayaniddesa (Paṭis CST4 I.31, PTS I.37) and the Sammasañāṇaniddesa (Paṭis CST4 I.48, PTS I.53) of the Paṭisambhidāmagga.

  15. Cf. the Mahānidānasutta (D 15, CST4 II.115, PTS II.62-63) and the Madhyānta-vibhaṅga 63 in Stcherbatsky (1936, p. 140).

  16. The standard incipit evaṃ me sutaṃ occurs only in the CST4 edition and is absent in the PTS edition.

  17. Referring to the matter in general and specifically to the physical form, the individual’s body.

  18. Passages in Pāli literature clarify that the neuter jīvaṃ should be taken as interchangeable with the masculine jīvo, thus indicating that it should be meant as the living being taken as the self: e.g., jīvo ti attā liṅgavipallāsena napuṃsakavacanaṃ kataṃ (Paṭis-a CST4 II.113, PTS II.395; also, in MNidd-a CST4 38, PTS I.243).

  19. I find Bhikkhu Bodhi’s interpretation of sajjati as “is begotten” valid in many ways. It is based on the explanation of the commentary that Inda is a Puggalavādin, and as such he would see a being as “produced in the womb at a single stroke” (Bodhi, 2000, p. 474, n. 559). Nevertheless, the commentary itself gives two synonyms (or cognate terms) for sajjati: laggati (“get stuck, attached to”) and tiṭṭhati (“stays, remains”), which would indicate “to stick”, “to hang” or “to cling” as preferable renderings for sajjati (cf. PED, 1921 s.v. sajjati). Also, I do not see a significant contradiction between this translation and the views generally ascribed to the Puggalavādins.

  20. That is to say, the pelvic cavity, here and in the commentaries literally defined as a “cave” (gabbhara). There seems to be a wordplay here, with the use of gabbhara (Skt. gahvara) to indicate the womb (gabbha, Skt. garbha).

  21. “The human embryo (in the first seven days after conception); the embryo (of a bird)” (Cone, 2001 s.v. kalala2). “Yaśomitra in his explanation to k.3.15 basically states that kalala is the "impurities" of mother and father” (Voroshilov, 2020, p. 154, n. xiv).

  22. “A swelling; (i) the human embryo in the second week after conception; (ii) (metaphor.) a tumour, a cancer” (Cone, 2001 s.v. abbuda).

  23. “1. a lump, usually a mass of flesh; 2. the foetus in the third stage after conception” (PED, 1921 s.v. pesi).

  24. “(i) What is (apparently) solid; any compact mass; (ii) an iron club or hammer; (iii) the human embryo (in the fourth week after conception)” (Cone, 2011 s.v. ghana2).

  25. For a rendering of these five stages in Tibetan see Stcherbatsky (1936, p. 140, n. 70).

  26. “The extremities (being the 5th stage in the formation of the embryo)” (PED, 1921 s.v. pasākha,4).

  27. The list occurs in an identical stanza of the Kathāvatthu, following a question on the immediate manifestation of the six sense-spheres and accompanied with a discussion on the arising of those parts of the body (hair of the head, hair of the body, nails, teeth, and bones; Kv CST4 692, PTS 494; cf. AkB 3.19, Voroshilov, 2020, p. 54,1).

  28. The final verses of this stanza are not found in the Abhidharmakośabhāṣya, which instead concludes by mentioning the progressive arising of physical faculties and their attributes (indriyāni ca rūpīṇi vyañjanāny anupūrvaśaḥ || AkB 3.19, Voroshilov, 2020, p. 54,2).

  29. A Pāli etymological definition of yakkha connects the term to the root yag- of yañña (ritual oblation, offering, Skt. yajña): yajanti tattha baliṃ upaharantī ti yakkhā (Vv-a CST4 864, PTS 224. Cf. PED, 1921 s.v. yakkha). The relationship with the oblation is mentioned at the beginning of the ṭīkā. On yajña in Buddhism see (Ferrara, 2018, pp. 259–282).

  30. Cf. CNidd CST4 88: api ca, dvādasahākārehi suññato lokaṃ avekkhati. rūpaṃ na satto na jīvo na naro na māṇavo na itthī na puriso na attā na attaniyaṃ nāhaṃ na mama na koci na kassaci; vedanā…pe… saññā… saṅkhārā… viññāṇaṃ na satto na jīvo na naro na māṇavo na itthī na puriso na attā na attaniyaṃ nāhaṃ na mama na koci na kassaci. evaṃ dvādasahākārehi suññato lokaṃ avekkhati.

  31. PED (1921 s.v. yakapeḷa) translates yakapiṇḍa as “the lump of the liver”, and Bodhi renders the whole compound aṭṭhīyakapiṇḍaṃ with “bones and liver” (2000, p. 305). The commentary suggests that the term yaka refers to the internal organs and to all the nine hundred “pieces of flesh”, as usually referred to in commentarial tradition (e.g., in the kāyanupassanāniddesa of the Sammohavinodanī, Vibh-a CST4 356, PTS 235).

  32. The Sammohavinodanī says that there are “more than three hundred bones” (sādhikāni tīṇi aṭṭhisatāni) and, like here, nine hundred pieces of flesh (Vibh-a CST4 356, PTS 235).

  33. Cone, 2001: the human embryo (in the first seven days after conception). Ñāṇamoli (1987, p. 23): “first stage foetus.”

  34. Ñāṇamoli (1987, p. 23): rebirth-linking. It is noteworthy that the text places the factor of consciousness (viññāṇa) at the same phase when the Agnipurāṇa has the entrance of the life-principle: jīvaḥ praviṣṭo garbhantu kalale 'pyatra tiṣṭhati—“The life principle enters the womb and remains in the kalala” (AP 368.19 or 369.19; cf. Gangadharan, 1955, p. 1032). The Arthaviniścayasūtra, on the other hand, discusses the descent of viññāṇa into the mother’s womb in its relationship with the arising of mind and matter (nāma-rūpa) at the stage of the kalala (AvS 118, in the form of a teaching of the Buddha to Ānanda). In the Pāli Nikāyas, the same teaching is abridged in the Mahānidānasutta (D 15, CST4 II.115, PTS II.62-63). It occurs also in the Abhidharmakośabhāṣya (AKb 3.20.5) and it is later used by Candrakīrti (Prp 26.2, see Voroshilov, 2020, p. 56; cf. Bronkhorst, 2009, p. 96).

  35. Ñāṇamoli (1987, p. 23): “new-born kid’s wool”; see ibidem p. 52, n. 29.

  36. evaṃ vaṇṇappaṭibhāganti evaṃ vaṇṇasaṇṭhānaṃ. Vimativinodanī-ṭīkā CST4 I.172. vaṇṇappaṭibhāgoti rūpapaṭicchanno saṇṭhānapaṭicchanno ca (Vibh-aṭ CST4 I.20). Cf. saṅkhavaṇṇappaṭibhāgāni (A CST4 VI.29, PTS III.324).

  37. The context here and the ṭīkā clearly indicate that samūhata is from samūheti (to aggregate, gather; samūha: mass, aggregation) and not samūhanati (to remove).

  38. I follow the second interpretation offered in the ṭīkā, which explains that the term bhāva is in a second vibhatti but indicating an ablative. The first interpretation of the ṭīkā takes it as an accusative in the sense of instrumental. An interpretation not in line with the ṭīkā could be that it stays with the present participle vivaṭṭamānaṃ, meaning “When this condition evolves (changes)”.

  39. The term vilīna, from vilīyati (to melt, to be dissolved) may mean “sticking” or “ripe”, “matured”, indicating something that has been digested (PED, 1921 s.v. vilīna and vilīyati). See below the explanation in the ṭīkā.

  40. The ṭīkā indicates that muccati should be taken as the alternative form of mucchati (see below).

  41. There is no Pāli source for that. The only other occurrence is in another commentary, the Saddhammapajjotikā, and like this one in the S-a is introduced by “it is also said” (vuttam pi cetaṃ; MNidd-a CST4 39, PTS II.248).

  42. This conclusion does not actually appear in the mūla text.

  43. sīhānaṃva nadantānaṃ dāṭhīnaṃ girigabbhare (Th, Nidānagāthā).

  44. Or “one who clings to”, “one who takes [the doctrine of self] as one’s own”. Cf. Cone, 2001 s.v. upādiyati and upādāna.

  45. The attavādupādāna is one of the four kinds of appropriation, along with kāmupādāna, appropriation of sense-desire, diṭṭhupādāna, appropriation of viewpoints, and sīlabbatupādāna, appropriation of precepts and vows (e.g., Mahānidānasutta, D 15, CST4 II.100, PTS II.58). This definition of the Puggalavādins is in contrast with that given by the Puggalavādin school of the Vajjiputtakas (Vātsīputrīyas), which distinguishes attā from puggala (Priestley, 1999, p. 6).

  46. This explicit reference to the paṭiccasamuppāda silently quotes from the Paccayasutta of the Nidānasaṃyutta (S CST4 II.20, PTS II.26) and continues with a list of characteristics of decay and death (jāra-maraṇa) and of each link of the dependent origination: having the nature of destruction (khaya-dhamma), having the nature of finishing (vaya-dhamma), having the nature of fading away (virāga-dhamma), and having the nature of ceasing (nirodha-dhamma).

  47. Dhammapāla here refers to a list of ten factors found in the Diṭṭhivisuddhiniddesa of the Visuddhimagga: the four great elements (dhātu), colour (vaṇṇa), smell (gandha), flavour (rasa), sustenance (ojā), life-force (jīvita), serenity of the body (kāya-pasāda). Vism CST4 664, PTS 588.

  48. This also implies that rūpa (like any khandha or dhamma) is not the self (attā). See the above-mentioned passage from the Cūḷaniddesa (CST4 88).

  49. evaṃ me sutaṃ IsCST4ED ] om. IsPTSED.

  50. jīvan ti ] em. jīvanti IsCST4ED jîvan-ti IsPTSED.

  51. aṭṭhīyakapiṇḍam eti IsPTSED ] aṭṭhīyakapiṇḍameti IsCST4ED.

  52. gabbharasmin ti ] em. gabbharasmi”nti IsCST4ED gabbharasmin-ti IsPTSED.

  53. pesi IsCST4ED ] pesî IsPTSED.

  54. nakhāpi IsCST4ED ] nakhāni IsPTSED. The stanza occurs also in the Kathāvatthu (Khv CST4 692, PTS 494) and both CST4 and PTS read nakhāpi (PTS: nakhā pi) instead of nakhāni. On the citation of the stanza in the Saddhammapajjotikā, the two editions differ: nakhāni (MNidd CST4 39), nakhā pi (MNidd PTS 249). The Abhidharmakośabhāṣya reads keśaromanakhādayaḥ (AkB 3.19 in Voroshilov 2020, p. 54,1).

  55. yañ cassa ] em. (cp. MNidd-a PTS 249) Yañcassa IsCST4ED yañ c-assa IsPTSED.

  56. yakkhasaṃyuttassa Isv-aCST4ED ] om. Isv-aPTSED.

  57. Indakassāti Isv-aCST4ED ] indakassā ti Isv-aPTSED.

  58. rūpaṃ Isv-aCST4ED ] om. Isv-aPTSED..

  59. jīvan ti na vadantī ti ] em. jīvanti na vadantī ti Isv-aCST4ED na jīvan ti vadantīti Isv-aPTSED.

  60. kathaṃ nu ayan ti ] kathaṃ nvayanti Isv-aCST4ED kathaṃ nvayan ti Isv-aPTSED.

  61. athassa Isv-aCST4ED ] ath’assa Isv-aPTSED.

  62. tiṭṭhatī ti ] em. tiṭṭhatīti? Isv-aCST4ED tiṭṭhatī?ti Isv-aPTSED.

  63. nibbattatī ti Isv-aPTSED ] nibbattatī”ti Isv-aCST4ED.

  64. pacitvā Isv-aCST4ED ] paccitvā Isv-aPTSED.

  65. vaḍḍhatī ti Isv-aPTSED] vaḍḍhatī”ti Isv-aCST4ED.

  66. hotī ti ādim āha Isv-aPTSED] hotītiādimāha Isv-aCST4ED.

  67. hoti Isv-aCST4ED ] hotīti Isv-aPTSED.

  68. vuttam pi ] ep vuttampi Isv-aCST4ED em. vuttam hi Isv-aPTSED (cf. MNidd-a CST4 39 and PTS II.248).

  69. tabbhāvaṃ Isv-aCST4ED ] ep taṃ bhāvaṃ Isv-aPTSED.

  70. pesi Isv-aCST4ED ] ep pesī Isv-aPTSED.

  71. gāmadārikā Isv-aCST4ED ] gāmadārikā Isv-aPTSED (cf. Isv-pṭCST4ED) - MNidd-a CST4 39 reads gāmadārikā, while MNidd-a PTS II.248 has gāmadārikā.

  72. Here both Isv-aCST4ED and read Isv-aPTSED pi, confirming the emendation of hi above.

  73. tabbhāvaṃ Isv-aCST4ED ] ep taṃ bhāvaṃ Isv-aPTSED.

  74. pesi Isv-aCST4ED ] ep pesī Isv-aPTSED.

  75. ghano ti Isv-aCST4ED ] ghanoti Isv-aPTSED.

  76. nakhāpi Isv-aCST4ED ] nakhāni Isv-aPTSED.

  77. kāyakammaṭṭhānan ti ] “kāyakammaṭṭhāna”nti Isv-pṭCST4ED.

  78. maṃsapesiyo ti ādi ] maṃsapesiyotiādi Isv-pṭCST4ED.

  79. sīhānaṃ va ] sīhānaṃva Isv-pṭCST4ED.

  80. girigabbhare ti ādinā ] girigabbhare’’tiādinā Isv-pṭCST4ED.

  81. mātukucchismin ti ] mātukucchismi’’nti Isv-pṭCST4ED.

  82. evam āhā ti ] evamāhāti Isv-pṭCST4ED.

  83. Silently quoted from S CST4 II.20, PTS II.26.

  84. ṭhitan ti ] ṭhitanti Isv-pṭCST4ED.

References

Abbreviations

  • A Aṅguttara Nikāya

  • AkB Abhidharmakośabhāṣya by Vasubandhu

  • AP Agnipurāṇa

  • AvS Arthaviniścayasūtra

  • AvS-N Arthaviniścayasūtranibandhana

  • cf. confer / compare with

  • CNidd Cūḷaniddesa

  • Cone A Dictionary of Pāli

  • CST4 Chaṭṭha Saṅgāyana Tipiṭaka, 4th edition

  • D Dīgha Nikāya

  • D-a Sumaṅgalavilāsinī (Dīgha Nikāya-aṭṭhakathā)

  • DĀ Sanskrit (Mūla-)Sarvāstivāda Dīrghāgama

  • Kv Kathāvatthu

  • Kv-a Paramatthadīpanī (Kathāvatthuppakaraṇa-aṭṭhakathā, included in Pañcappakaraṇa-aṭṭhakathā)

  • M Majjhima Nikāya

  • MNidd-a Saddhammapajjotikā I-II (Mahāniddesa-aṭṭhakathā)

  • Mil Milindapañha

  • Paṭis-a Saddhammappakāsinī (Paṭisambhidāmagga-aṭṭhakathā)

  • PED Pali-English Dictionary (Rhys Davids - Stede)

  • PrP Prasannapadā by Candrakīrti

  • PTS Pali Text Society edition

  • S Saṃyutta Nikāya

  • S-a Sāratthappakāsinī (Saṃyutta Nikāya-aṭṭhakathā)

  • S-pṭ Līnatthapakāsinī III (Saṃyutta Nikāya-purāṇaṭīkā)

  • T Taishō Shinshū Daizōkyō or TaishōIssaikyō, 100 vols, edited by J. Takakusu and K. Watanabe, Tōkyō 1924ff.

  • Th Theragāthā

  • Vibh-a Sammohavinodanī (Vibhaṅga-aṭṭhakathā)

  • Vibh-aṭ Vibhaṅga-anuṭīkā

  • Vism Visuddhimagga

  • Vv-a Vimānavatthu-aṭṭhakathā

Pāli texts are from CST4 and PTS editions

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Acknowledgements

I am especially grateful to Mattia Salvini and Claudio Cicuzza for reading a draft of this paper, offering precious suggestions and accurate criticism, and drawing my attention on valuable sources. I also thank the late Peter Masefield for his great contribution to the study of Pāli commentaries; I dedicate to him the possible merits of this paper. Of course, all the remaining mistakes are mine.

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  1. Mahidol University, Salaya, Nakhon Pathom, Thailand

    Giuliano Giustarini

  2. Fondazione Maitreya, Rome, Italy

    Giuliano Giustarini

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Giustarini, G. Intrauterine Dependent Origination: A Translation of the Indakasutta and its Commentaries. J Indian Philos 49, 895–912 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10781-021-09484-z

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