Controverted Point: That “Assurance” is unconditioned.Niyāmo asaṅkhatoti? Controverted PointĀmantā. Theravādin:Then is Assurancethat other unconditioned calledNibbāna, or the Shelter, the Cave, the Refuge, the Goal, the Past-Decease, the Ambrosial? You deny. Yet you would call both alike unconditioned. Are there then two kinds of unconditioned? If you deny, you cannot affirm; if you assent, thenfor all we knowthere are two Shelters … two Goals … twoNibbānas. If you deny, you cannot affirm your proposition; if you assent, then do you allow that of the twoNibbānasone is higher than the other, sublimer than the other, exalted more than the other? Is there a boundary, or a division, or a line, or an interstice between them? Of course you deny …Nibbānaṁ tāṇaṁ leṇaṁ saraṇaṁ parāyanaṁ accutaṁ amatanti? that other unconditioned calledNa hevaṁ vattabbe …pe….

for all we knowNiyāmo asaṅkhato, nibbānaṁ asaṅkhatanti? Again, are there any who enter into and attain Assurance, cause it to arise, to keep arising, set it up, continue to set it up, bring it to pass, to come into being, produce it, continue to produce it? “Of course”, you say.But are these terms that you can apply to what is unconditioned? Of course not … .Āmantā. Again, is the Path (the Fourfold) unconditioned? “Nay”, you say, “conditioned”. Yet you would make Assurance unconditioned; the Path of Stream-Winning, Once-Returning, Never-Returning, Arahantship, conditioned; but Assurance of Stream-Winning, etc., unconditioned!… .Dve asaṅkhatānīti? If then these four stages of Assurance be unconditioned, andNibbānabe unconditioned, are there five kinds of the unconditioned? If you assent, you are in the same difficulty as before ().Na hevaṁ vattabbe …pe….

Finally, is false Assurance unconditioned? “No, conditioned”, you say. But has true Assurance the same quality? Here you must deny … .Dve asaṅkhatānīti? Andhaka:If I am wrong, would you say that, if Assurance having arisen for anyone and ceased, his work of making surehis salvationwould be cancelled?Āmantā. Andhaka:Dve tāṇāni dve leṇāni dve saraṇāni dve parāyanāni dve accutāni dve amatāni dve nibbānānīti? his salvationNa hevaṁ vattabbe …pe….

Andhaka:Then Assurance must be unconditionedthat is, it cannot begin and cease.Dve nibbānānīti? Andhaka:Āmantā. that is, it cannot begin and cease.Atthi dvinnaṁ nibbānānaṁ uccanīcatā hīnapaṇītatā ukkaṁsāvakaṁso sīmā vā bhedo vā rāji vā antarikā vāti? Theravādin:But your argument can be applied to false Assurance. You would not therefore call that unconditioned!Na hevaṁ vattabbe …pe….

Shwe Zan AungNiyāmo asaṅkhatoti? This SuttaCentral edition was prepared byManfred WierichandVen. Vimalaand proofread byJosephine Tobin. Some changes were introduced:Āmantā. Manfred WierichAtthi keci niyāmaṁ okkamanti paṭilabhanti uppādenti samuppādenti uṭṭhāpenti samuṭṭhāpenti nibbattenti abhinibbattenti janenti sañjanentīti? Ven. VimalaĀmantā. Josephine TobinAtthi keci asaṅkhataṁ okkamanti paṭilabhanti uppādenti samuppādenti uṭṭhāpenti samuṭṭhāpenti nibbattenti abhinibbattenti janenti sañjanentīti? 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.Na hevaṁ vattabbe …pe….

Abbreviations, i.e., those of cited works and the participants in the controversies, were expanded.Niyāmo asaṅkhatoti? Cross-references were linked.Āmantā. 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 “:”.Maggo asaṅkhatoti? Letter-spacing with fixed spaces was replaced with bold font.Na hevaṁ vattabbe …pe….

The corrigenda were merged into the text. Some could not be resolved, though.Maggo saṅkhatoti? This electronic version is published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial 3.0 licence (CC BY-NC 3.0) as found here:http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/Āmantā. All copyright is owned by the Pali Text Society. See also the statement under http://www.palitext.com/ → Publications → Copyright Announcement. For non-commercial use only.Niyāmo saṅkhatoti? Na hevaṁ vattabbe …pe….

Sotāpattiniyāmo asaṅkhatoti? Āmantā. Sotāpattimaggo asaṅkhatoti? Na hevaṁ vattabbe …pe….

Sotāpattimaggo saṅkhatoti? Āmantā. Sotāpattiniyāmo saṅkhatoti? Na hevaṁ vattabbe …pe….

Sakadāgāminiyāmo …pe… anāgāminiyāmo …pe… arahattaniyāmo asaṅkhatoti? Āmantā. Arahattamaggo asaṅkhatoti? Na hevaṁ vattabbe …pe… arahattamaggo saṅkhatoti? Āmantā. Arahattaniyāmo saṅkhatoti? Na hevaṁ vattabbe …pe….

Sotāpattiniyāmo asaṅkhato …pe… arahattaniyāmo asaṅkhato, nibbānaṁ asaṅkhatanti? Āmantā. Pañca asaṅkhatānīti? Na hevaṁ vattabbe …pe… pañca asaṅkhatānīti? Āmantā. Pañca tāṇāni …pe… antarikā vāti? Na hevaṁ vattabbe …pe….

Niyāmo asaṅkhatoti? Āmantā. Micchattaniyāmo asaṅkhatoti? Na hevaṁ vattabbe …pe… micchattaniyāmo saṅkhatoti? Āmantā. Sammattaniyāmo saṅkhatoti? Na hevaṁ vattabbe …pe….

Na vattabbaṁ—“niyāmo asaṅkhato”ti? Āmantā. Niyāme uppajja niruddhe aniyato hotīti? Na hevaṁ vattabbe …pe…. Tena hi niyāmo asaṅkhatoti. Micchattaniyāme uppajja niruddhe aniyato hotīti? Na hevaṁ vattabbe …pe… tena hi micchattaniyāmo asaṅkhatoti.

Niyāmakathā niṭṭhitā.