➥ yathābhūta:

• for yathābhūta:
  • according to reality
  • things according to reality

Yathābhūta: according to reality

Where yathābhūta has a specified object, we render it ‘according to reality’:

• Camouflaged by skin, the body is not seen according to reality.

Chaviyā kāyo paṭicchanno yathābhūtaṁ na dissati. (Snp 199)

Yathābhūta: things according to reality

Sometimes yathābhūta has an unspecified object, which we call ‘things’:

• A bhikkhu who is inwardly collected discerns things according to reality

Samāhito bhikkhave bhikkhu yathābhūtaṁ pajānāti. (SN iii 13-14)

Other translators likewise favour ‘things’. Only Horner uses brackets:

• Bodhi: ‘A bhikkhu who is concentrated understands things according to reality’ yathābhūtaṁ pajānāti. (SN iv 80)
• Norman: ‘Not seeing things according to reality’ yathābhūtaṁ adassino. (Tha 662)
• Horner: ‘Could not know, could not see (things) as they really are’ yathābhūtaṁ na jāneyyaṁ na passeyyan ti. (MN i 323)

Yathābhūta: emphasis means redundancy

When yathābhūta is used for emphasis we again say ‘according to reality,’ though it is redundant. For example, apart from the emphasis, there is no significant difference when the term is removed in these examples:

• He does not know according to reality that he has a blemish.
• He does not know that he has a blemish.

atthi me ajjhattaṁ aṅgaṇan ti yathābhūtaṁ nappajānāti. (MN i 25)

• That sensuous pleasures are like a [red-hot] charcoal pit is clearly seen according to reality with perfect penetrative discernment by the bhikkhu
• That sensuous pleasures are like a [red-hot] charcoal pit is clearly seen with perfect penetrative discernment by the bhikkhu

bhikkhuno aṅgārakāsūpamā kāmā yathābhūtaṁ sammappaññāya sudiṭṭhā honti. (DN iii 283)

• They are liberated [from perceptually obscuring states] according to reality
• They are liberated [from perceptually obscuring states]

yathābhūte vimuccanti. (Iti 44)

➥ yathābhūte: (main article see: yathābhūta)

Illustration: yathābhūte, according to reality

Those who see what is brought about as what is brought about, transcending what is brought about, are liberated [from perceptually obscuring states] according to reality, having destroyed craving for states of individual existence.

Ye bhūtaṁ bhūtato disvā bhūtassa ca atikkamā
Yathābhūte vimuccanti bhavataṇhāparikkhayā. (Iti 44)

➥ yathābhūtaṁ: (main article see: yathābhūta)

Illustration: yathābhūtaṁ, according to reality

The ignorant Everyman does not discern according to reality the origination of, vanishing of, sweetness of, wretchedness of, and deliverance from the five aggregates.

assutavā puthujjano rūpassa… viññāṇassa samudayañca atthaṅgamañca assādañca ādīnavañca nissaraṇañca yathābhūtaṁ nappajānāti. (SN iii 173-4)

Illustration: yathābhūtaṁ, according to reality

He does not know according to reality that he has a blemish.

atthi me ajjhattaṁ aṅgaṇan ti yathābhūtaṁ nappajānāti. (MN i 25)

Illustration: yathābhūtaṁ, according to reality

He does not discern according to reality, with the liberation [from attachment through inward calm] and the liberation [from uninsightfulness] through penetrative discernment, where those unvirtuous, spiritually unwholesome factors cease without remainder.

tañca cetovimuttiṁ paññāvimuttiṁ yathābhūtaṁ nappajānāti yatthassa te uppannā pāpakā akusalā dhammā aparisesā nirujjhanti. (SN iv 189)

Illustration: yathābhūtaṁ, according to reality

That sensuous pleasures are like a [red-hot] charcoal pit is clearly seen according to reality with perfect penetrative discernment by the bhikkhu whose āsavas are destroyed.

puna ca paraṁ āvuso khīṇāsavassa bhikkhuno aṅgārakāsūpamā kāmā yathābhūtaṁ sammappaññāya sudiṭṭhā honti. (DN iii 283)

Illustration: yathābhūtaṁ, according to reality

Some ascetic or Brahmanist may not discern according to reality what is spiritually wholesome, nor what is spiritually unwholesome.

idaṁ kusalan ti yathābhūtaṁ nappajānāti idaṁ akusalan ti yathābhūtaṁ nappajānāti. (DN i 40)

Illustration: yathābhūtaṁ, according to reality

Again, friend, one who is attached, overpowered, and overcome by attachment,… does not discern according to reality his own well-being, nor that of others, nor that of both himself and others.

Ratto kho āvuso rāgena abhibhūto pariyādinnacitto attatthampi yathābhūtaṁ nappajānāti paratthampi yathābhūtaṁ nappajānāti. Ubhayatthampi yathābhūtaṁ nappajānāti. (AN i 216-7)

Illustration: yathābhūtaṁ, according to reality

One who does not know and see old age and death according to reality should vigorously endeavour [to attain] knowledge of old age and death according to reality.

jarāmaraṇaṁ bhikkhave ajānatā apassatā yathābhūtaṁ jarāmaraṇe yathābhūtaṁ ñāṇāya ātappaṁ karaṇīyaṁ. (SN ii 132)

Illustration: yathābhūtaṁ, according to reality

The learned noble disciple discerns bodily form that is of an originated nature according to reality, thus: ‘Bodily form is of an originated nature.’

sutavā ariyasāvako samudayadhammaṁ rūpaṁ samudayadhammaṁ rūpan ti yathābhūtaṁ pajānāti. (SN iii 171)

Illustration: yathābhūtaṁ, according to reality

Whatever sense impression that arises due to visual sensation―whether pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral―becomes manifest to him according to reality, as unlasting.

yampidaṁ cakkhusamphassapaccayā uppajjati vedayitaṁ sukhaṁ vā dukkhaṁ vā adukkhamasukhaṁ vā tampi aniccan ti yathābhūtaṁ okkhāyati. (SN iv 144)

Illustration: yathābhūtaṁ, according to reality

He is straightforward and aboveboard, presenting himself according to reality to his teachers and to his knowledgeable companions in the religious life.

Asaṭho hoti amāyāvī yathābhūtaṁ attānaṁ āvīkattā satthari vā viññūsu vā sabrahmacārīsu. (MN ii 128)

Illustration: yathābhūtaṁ, according to reality

Camouflaged by skin, the body is not seen according to reality.

Chaviyā kāyo paṭicchanno yathābhūtaṁ na dissati. (Snp 194)

Illustration: yathābhūtaṁ, according to reality

Suppose, brahman, there is a bowl of water stirred by wind. If a clear-sighted man were to examine his facial reflection in it, he would neither discern nor see it according to reality.

Seyyathā pi brāhmaṇa udapatto vāterito calito bhanto ūmijāto tattha cakkhumā puriso sakaṁ mukhanimittaṁ paccavekkhamāno yathābhūtaṁ nappajāneyya na passeyya. (SN v 123-4)

Illustration: yathābhūtaṁ, according to reality

Come, friends, abide contemplating the nature of the body, vigorously applied [to the practice], fully conscious, mentally concentrated, serene, inwardly collected, inwardly undistracted

ātāpino sampajānā ekodibhūtā vippasannacittā samāhitā ekaggacittā

in order to know the body according to reality.

kāyassa yathābhūtaṁ ñāṇāya. (SN v 145)

Illustration: yathābhūtaṁ, things according to reality

Elated by anything with a pleasant nature, and cast down by anything with an unpleasant nature, fools are struck down [by craving] on both accounts, not seeing things according to reality.

Unnatā sukhadhammena dukkhadhammena c’onatā
Dvayena bālāhaññanti yathābhūtaṁ adassino. (Tha 662-3)

Illustration: yathābhūta, things according to reality

Without right inward collectedness, for one lacking in right inward collectedness, the condition for knowledge and vision of things according to reality is cut off;

sammāsamādhimhi asati sammāsamādhivipannassa hatūpanisaṁ hoti yathābhūtañāṇadassanaṁ. (AN iii 20)

Illustration: yathābhūtaṁ, things according to reality

For one who knows and sees things according to reality, there is no need to harbour the aspiration: ‘May I be disillusioned with and unattached [to originated phenomena].’

Yathābhūtaṁ bhikkhave jānato passato na cetanāya karaṇīyaṁ nibbindāmi virajjāmī ti.

It is natural that one who knows and sees things according to reality, is disillusioned with and unattached [to originated phenomena].’

Dhammatā esā bhikkhave yaṁ yathābhūtaṁ jānaṁ passaṁ nibbindati virajjati. (AN v 3)

Illustration: yathābhūtaṁ, things according to reality; according to reality

Bhikkhus, develop inward collectedness. A bhikkhu who is inwardly collected discerns things according to reality.

samādhiṁ bhikkhave bhāvetha. Samāhito bhikkhave bhikkhu yathābhūtaṁ pajānāti.

And what does he discern according to reality?

kiñca yathābhūtaṁ pajānāti

The origination and vanishing of bodily form… fields of sensation.

rūpassa samudayañca atthaṅgamañca… viññāṇassa samudayañca atthaṅgamañca. (SN iii 13-14)