ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I must express my thanks to Dr. W. S. Karunaratna. Lecturer in Pali in the University of Ceylon, Mr. D. J. Kalupahana. Mr. S. Menikpura and the Rev. Balangoda PaftiUvamsa, all of them students reading Pali and Sanskrit at the University for having read the proofs of this book, and to Miss Penia Suhasinghe my pupil, for having prepared both indexes. I must also record here my gratefulness to Mr. H. B. Perera, of the Ceylon University Press, for the interest and care with which he printed this book, and for the help and suggestions he gave me such as authors seldom receive from printers in Ceylon.
I must mention here that this essay was written as a thesis to be presented to the University of London for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, and that its publication was at all possible because the A. B. Gomes Trust were good enough to offer to bear the cost of printing it. Hence if any merit accrues from this dhamma danna, it must go in entirety to them.
E. R. SARATHCHANDRA
University of Ceylon
Peradeniya, Ceylon
February, 1958
CONTENTS
Bibliography and List of Abbreviations…………………vi
Introductory Note…………………viii
PART ONE: THEORIES OF PERCEPTION IN THE NIKAYAS
Theories of Perception in the Nikayas…………………3
PART TWO: PERCEPTION IN THE ABHIDHAMMA
Perception in the Abhidhamma…………………25
The Physiolygy of Sense Perception…………………32
Developments in the Twelfth Century…………………42
The Presentative Continuum…………………49
Ideational Process and Dreams…………………62
PART THREE: THE THEORY OF BHAVANGA
Bhavanga: The Origin and meaning of the term…………………75
Bhavanga in Birth and Death…………………82
Bhavanga and Alaya Vijnana…………………89
Philosophical Basis of the Buddhist Theory of Perception…………………97
Index of Pali and Sanskrit Words…………………107
General Index…………………109