Page:A History of Indian Philosophy Vol 1.djvu/112

 9 6 Buddhist Philosophy [ CH. conceiving takes place. This is the stage where the specific dis- tinctive knowledge as the yellow or the red takes place. Mrs Rhys Davids writing on sanna says: "In editing the second book of the Abhidhamma pitaka I found a classification distinguishing between sanna as cognitive assimilation on occasion of sense, and sanna as cognitive assimilation of ideas by way of naming. The former is called perception of resistance, or opposi- tion (patigha-saiiilii). This, writes Buddhaghoa, is perception on occasion of sight, hearing, etc., when consciousness is aware of the impact of impressions; of external things as different, we might say. The latter is called perception of the equivalent word or name (ad/livachtinii-safiflii) and is exercised by the sensus C01Jl- '11lunis (mano), when e.g. 'one is seated...and asks another who is thoughtful: "What are you thinking of?" one perceives through his speech.' Thus there are two stages of sanna-consciousness, I. contemplating sense-impressions, 2. ability to know what they are by naming I ." About sailkhara we read in Sal!zylttta Nikiiya (III. 87) that it is called sailkhara because it synthesises (abhisankharonti), it "is that which conglomerated rlipa as rlipa, conglomerated sanna as sanna, sailkhara as sailkhara and consciousness (vififliina) as consciousness. It is called sankhara because it synthesises the conglomerated (salikhatalll abhisankharonti). It is thus a synthetic function which synthesises the passive rlipa, sanna, sailkhara and vinnana elements. The fact that we hear of 52 satikhara states and also that the sailkhara exercises its syn- thetic activity on the conglomerated elements in it, goes to show that probably the word satikhara is used in two senses, as mental states and as synthetic activity. Vif1nana or consciousness meant according to Buddhagho!?a, as we have already seen in the previous section, both the stage at which the intellectual process started and also the final resulting consciousness. Buddhaghoa in eXplaining the process of Buddhist psychology says that "consciousness (citta) first comes into touch (phassa) with its object (iirallllllala) and thereafter feeling, conception (sa/Hill) and volition (cetmltl) come in. This contact is like the pillars of a palace, and the rest are but the superstructure built upon it (dabbasambhiirasadisii). But it should not be thought that contact I Buddhist Psydzology, pp. 49, 50.