The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha - Bhikkhu Nanamoli [554]
MA gives prolific examples illustrating all the different modes of conceiving, and these clearly establish that the intended object of conceiving is the misplaced sense of egoity.
7 MA states that one who fully understands earth does so by the three types of full understanding: the full understanding of the known (ñātapariññā)—the definition of the earth element by way of its unique characteristic, function, manifestation, and proximate cause; the full understanding by scrutinization (tı̄raṇapariññā)—the contemplation of the earth element by way of the three general characteristics of impermanence, suffering, and non-self; and the full understanding of abandonment (pahānapariññā)—the abandoning of desire and lust for the earth element through the supreme path (of arahantship).
8 Bhūtā. MA says that “beings” here signifies only living beings below the heaven of the Four Great Kings, the lowest of the sense-sphere heavens; the higher grades of living beings are covered by the terms to follow. MA exemplifies the application of the three types of conceiving to this situation as follows: When a person becomes attached to beings as a result of sight, hearing, etc., or desires rebirth in a certain class of beings, this is conceiving due to craving. When he ranks himself as superior, equal, or inferior to others, this is conceiving due to conceit. And when he thinks, “Beings are permanent, stable, eternal,” etc., this is conceiving due to views.
9 MA: The gods of the six sense-sphere heavenly worlds are meant, except for Māra and his retinue in the heaven of the gods who wield power over others’ creations. See the account of Buddhist cosmology in the Introduction, pp. 45–48.
10 Prajāpati, “lord of creation,” is a name given by the Vedas to Indra, Agni, etc., as the highest of the Vedic divinities. But according to MA, Pajāpati here is a name for Māra because he is the ruler of this “generation” (paj̄) made up of living beings.
11 Brahmā here is Mahābrahmā, the first deity to be born at the beginning of a new cosmic cycle and whose lifespan lasts for the entire cycle. The Ministers of Brahmā and the Assembly of Brahmā—the other deities whose position is determined by attainment of the first jhāna—are also included.
12 MA: By mentioning these, all beings occupying the plane of the second jhāna—the gods of Limited Radiance and the gods of Immeasurable Radiance—should be included, for all these occupy a single level.
13 MA: By mentioning these, all beings occupying the plane of the third jhāna—the gods of Limited Glory and the gods of Immeasurable Glory—should be included.
14 These are divinities on the plane of the fourth jhāna.
15 Abhibhū. MA says this term is a designation for the non-percipient realm, called thus because it vanquishes (abhibhavati) the four immaterial aggregates. The identification sounds contrived, especially because the word “abhibh̄ū” is a masculine singular noun. Elsewhere (MN 49.5) the word appears as part of Baka the Brahmā’s claim to theocratic hegemony, yet MA rejects identifying the Abhibhū with Brahmā here as a redundancy.
16 This and the next three sections deal with conceiving in relation to the four immaterial planes of existence—the cosmological counterparts of the four immaterial meditative attainments. With §18 the division of conceiving by way of planes of existence is completed.
17 In these four sections the phenomena comprising personal identity are considered as objects of perception classified into the four categories of the seen, heard, sensed, and cognized. Here, sensed (muta) signifies the data of smell, taste, and touch, cognized (viññata) the data of introspection, abstract thought, and imagination. The objects of perception are “conceived” when they are cognized in terms of “mine,” “I,