Identity and Experience_Hamilton_1996

150 Identity and Experience
or extension. And the same is true for fluidity (ipo), heat (40) and motion
(vriy): these abstract meanings are more relevant than the literal meanings
of these terms (water, fire and wind). These primary constituents of riipa are
not types of substance, but constitute different modes or states which come
together as derived riipa. And all of these primary constituents of the
rzipakkhandha are samkhiras: the more detailed information refers to their
position on what Johansson calls the "spectrum of density or solidity".48 All
phenomena on the spectrum could also be called different modes of reality.
In Buddhism, all sarpkhira-s, whether solid or abstract, are different modes of
reality: none is more real than any of the others.49 This is perhaps easier for
us to grasp in view of the discovery in modern physics that matter is a gross
form of energy. And the analogy of ice, water and steam also illustrates the
absence of ontological discontinuity between different modes of existing on
the spectrum of density.
This spectrum is reflected in Buddhist cosmology which, though it is
only fully evolved in the commentarial tradition and in the Visuddhimagga
of Buddhaghosa, is unsystematically present in the canon. Briefly, this is
divided into three spheres: the sphere of desire (klimadhatu), the sphere of
form (riipadhitu) and the sphere of formlessness (ariipadhitu). The first and
third of these spheres have various complex levels.50 The first, the
klimadhitu, is comprised of the various heavens and hells in which beings
are reborn in what in Buddhist terms are gross riipa bodies. The middle
sphere, the riipadhitu, is the level at which live certain beings (often called
devas) which have subtle rzipa bodies. The third sphere, the ariipadhitu, is
stratified according to the more rarified levels of meditation which are
attained by advanced disciples. It is inhabited by those who died just
before gaining liberating insight; they dwell at an appropriate level of pure
meditation and at this stage they are formless.
Gombrich calls the arqadhitu "an elaborate spacial metaphor for
spiritual pr~gress".~' In fact one might say that all three of the dhitus are
spacial metaphors for spiritual progress. The kimadhitu is inhabited by
those whose actions are still impure or 'gross' enough to keep them in the
cyclic world of sensual desire: it correlates with the gross physical body.
Though the riipadhitu is inhabited by the devas mentioned above, who
derive from Maha Brahmi~,~~ it is also inhabited by those who have
performed an important service or who have achieved a certain level of
meditation. And though such individuals possess a riipa body, there is
canonical evidence that it is subtle Spa: as it were mid-way between gross
riipa and the formlessness of the acpa level. In the fourth point raised in
this chapter we shall also see that this subtle body, which is called
manomaya, can also be acquired or created by some individuals who still
inhabit the kiimadhitu, and that the ability to create such a body is acquired
on the spiritual path.53 The metaphor of the spiritual path underlines the
continuity between the spheres. And just as for Buddhists the path