‘THE CLOG-BOUND SUTTA’ (‘Gaddula·Baddha·Sutta5’)

Venerable Pa-Auk Tawya Sayadaw’s teachings
From http://www.paaukforestmonastery.org/books/workings_of_kamma.pdf


I —‘THE CLOG-BOUND SUTTA’
(‘Gaddula·Baddha·Sutta5’)
In the course of our Dhamma talks, we shall discuss two main suttas:
one is called ‘Gaddula·Baddha·Sutta5’1(‘The Clog-Bound Sutta’),2 the
other is called ‘Dutiya·Gaddula·Baddha·Sutta5’3 (‘The Second ClogBound Sutta’): that is two ‘Gaddula·Baddha’ suttas. We shall begin with
the first one:
INCONCEIVABLE IS THE BEGINNING, BHIKKHUS
Thus I heard.4 One time the Exalted One was dwelling in Sāvatthi, in Jeta’s Grove,
Anāthapi;<ika’s monastery. There the Exalted One addressed the bhikkhus:
Inconceivable is the beginning, bhikkhus, of the round of rebirth
(sa5sāra). A first point is not known of ignorance-hindered beings (avijjā·nīvara8āna5 sattāna5) fettered by craving (ta8hā·sa5yojanāna5), rushing on (sandhāvata5) and running about (sa5sarata5).
Here, The Buddha discusses the round of rebirth (sa5sāra),5 the rushing
on from one world to another (now a human being, then a deva, then an
animal, then again a human being, etc.), and the running about within
one world (again and again a human being, or again and again a deva,
etc.). The Buddha mentions the two main causes for this ongoing process: ignorance (avijjā) and craving (ta8hā).
Ignorance and craving are necessary for actions to possess kammic potency. The kammic potency (kamma·satti) is the potency by which volitional action through body, speech or mind is able to produce a kammaresult, kamma·vipāka. This potency is also called ‘other-momentkamma’ (nānā·kkha8ika kamma) because we produce the kamma at one
particular consciousness moment, and if the kamma matures, the kammic
potency produces the result at another moment: either in this life or a future life.6 But without ignorance and craving, action does not possess
kammic potency.


What is ignorance (avijjā)? It is explained in the Visuddhi·Magga:7
Amongst the ultimately non-existent (param·atthato a·vijjamānesu), amongst women,
men, it [ignorance] hurries on; amongst the existent (vijjamānesu), however, amongst
the aggregates, etc., it does not hurry on….8

What does this mean? It means that ignorance sees only conventional 
truth (sammuti·sacca):9 women and men, mothers and fathers, wives and 
husbands, daughters and sons, dogs, cats, pigs, and chickens, etc. It is 
wrong to see in this way, because these things do not exist according to 
reality (yathā·bhūta). The things that do exist according to reality, how-




What does this mean? It means that ignorance sees only conventional 
truth (sammuti·sacca):9 women and men, mothers and fathers, wives and 
husbands, daughters and sons, dogs, cats, pigs, and chickens, etc. It is 
wrong to see in this way, because these things do not exist according to 
reality (yathā·bhūta). The things that do exist according to reality, how-

ever, are the aggregates (khandha), the elements (dhātu), the bases 
(āyatana), mentality-materiality (nāma·rūpa), dependent origination 
(pa;icca·samuppāda), the workings of kamma, the three characteristics 
(ti·lakkha8a),10 etc.: in brief, the Four Noble Truths.11 These things, 
which are ultimate truth (paramattha·sacca), ignorance does not see.12
That is why, if we think: ‘This is a woman, a man, mother, father, daughter, son,’ etc., it is the perception of a being (satta·saññā), a manifestation 
of ignorance (avijjā). And that ignorance is a cause of kamma, a reason 
why beings run on from life to life, from suffering to suffering.13
Ignorance is to think there are men, women, fathers, mothers, sons, 
daughters, etc. It is wrong to think in this way because there are in fact 
no men, women, etc., there is only ultimate materiality and mentality.14
To examine materiality, we need to practise materiality meditation 
(rūpa·kamma·;;hāna), that is, four-elements definition meditation 
(catu·dhātu vavatthāna kamma·;;hāna). Then do we see small particles, 
clusters of materiality (rūpa kalāpas). If we analyse those small particles, 
we see ultimate materiality: altogether twenty-eight types of materiality 
(rūpa).15 Apart from materiality, there is also mentality, which depends 
on materiality.16 To examine mentality, we need to practise mentalitymeditation (nāma kamma·;;hāna). Then do we see the consciousness moments of the different types of mental process. If we analyse those consciousness moments, we see ultimate mentality: altogether eighty-one 
types of consciousness, and their associated mental factors.17 There is 
nothing else: only materiality and mentality. As soon as the elements that 
are materiality and mentality arise, they perish, which means they are 
impermanent. Since they are impermanent, there can be no permanent 
entities such as a man, woman, father, mother, son, daughter, etc.

If one 
thinks such things exist, it is a manifestation of ignorance.
When there is such ignorance, craving for those non-existent objects 
may arise. And when our actions of body, speech and mind18 are associated with such ignorance and craving, our actions possess kammic potency: kamma. If that kamma matures, it produces a good or bad result, 
and we continue rushing on and running about in the round of rebirth. 
That is why, in this sutta, The Buddha says: 
Inconceivable is the beginning, bhikkhus, of the round of rebirth. A first 
point is not known of ignorance-hindered beings fettered by craving, rushing on and running about. 


Then The Buddha explains how, in the future, the world system will 
come to an end.  (to be cont.)