Visuddhimagga and the Samantapāsādikā (Part 2)

This article is a continuation of "Visuddhimagga to Samantapasadika (1)" [The Visuddhimagga and the Samantapasadika (1)], (Bulletin of The Research Institute of Bukkyo University, No.4, 1997, pp. 35-63). In this article, I compare the phrases in the Samantapasadika which annotate the descriptions on pubbanivasanussatinana (supernatural power of knowing one's own past lives) appearing in the Vinaya with the corresponding parts of the Visuddhimagga, and investigated their differences. As a result, I have clarified that the interpretation on the ability to have this supernatural power differs between these texts. The Visuddhimagga claims that even common monks can have this power. On the other hand, the Samantapasadika does not admit this assertion. However, it is interesting that the descriptions of this power in the Vimuttimagga and the Samantapasadika agree with each other. Here, we encounter another case in which the Samantapasadika and the Vimuttimagga have same the doctrine and only the Visuddhimagga disagrees with it