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Paṭṭhāna: Both Being Present and Having Gone Can Be Conditions
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Paṭṭhāna: Both Being Present and Having Gone Can Be Conditions

Atthipaccayo

The last four of the twenty-four conditions concern presence and absence. Presence and non-disappearance are what still stands and therefore supports; absence and disappearance are what has ceased with nothing in between, and so makes room for what comes next.

7 points

In the Paṭṭhāna of the Abhidhamma Piṭaka, the last four conditions in the list of twenty-four are presence (atthi), absence (natthi), disappearance (vigata) and non-disappearance (avigata). Two speak of being there, and two of having gone.

Presence has one of the longest definitions, running from the four immaterial aggregates as conditions for one another, the four great elements as conditions for one another, mentality and materiality as conditions for each other at rebirth-linking, mind and mental factors as conditions for mind-produced materiality, the great elements as conditions for derived materiality, through to all five pairs of sense bases. Non-disappearance uses almost identical wording, differing only in the name.

Absence and disappearance are likewise a parallel pair: mind and mental factors that have just ceased with nothing in between are a condition, by way of absence, for the mind and mental factors that arise immediately after; and mind and mental factors that have just departed with nothing in between are a condition, by way of disappearance, for those that arise immediately after.

In the Investigation Chapter the text also states that presence may be of up to five kinds: conascence, prenascence, postnascence, nutriment and faculty — which shows that this condition is a kind of summary of several conditions already given. This point is for overall understanding.

  1. 1

    Presence: still standing, therefore supporting Atthipaccayo

    The analysis of conditions runs through: the four immaterial aggregates as conditions for one another; the four great elements as conditions for one another; at rebirth-linking, mentality and materiality as conditions for each other; mind and mental factors as conditions for mind-produced materiality; the great elements as conditions for derived materiality; and the internal and external bases as conditions for the corresponding consciousness elements — all by way of presence.

    Applying it in daily life

    Try counting what is still here and still holding your life up today. It is a way of valuing what you have without having to lose it first.

  2. 2

    Presence can be of five kinds Sahajātaṃ purejātaṃ pacchājātaṃ āhāraṃ indriyaṃ

    In the Investigation Chapter of the Clung-to triplet and the Worldly pair, the text says that for some relations presence is of five kinds: conascence, prenascence, postnascence, nutriment and faculty, and then explains each. For other relations it is of four kinds, and for some of only one. The counting shows that presence covers many of the relations already described.

    Applying it in daily life

    What holds you up right now is rarely one thing but several layered together. Knowing there are layers keeps you from panicking when one of them shakes.

  3. 3

    Even food and the life faculty belong here Rūpajīvitindriyaṃ

    In the expanded passages the text says that edible food is a condition for this body by way of presence, and that the material life faculty is a condition for kamma-produced materiality by way of presence. So this condition includes both what is eaten and what sustains materiality in being.

    Applying it in daily life

    Basics such as food and rest are not secondary; they are what actually holds up everything else.

  4. 4

    Absence: having ceased, it makes room Natthipaccayo

    The definition is a single sentence: mind and mental factors that have ceased with nothing in between are a condition, by way of absence, for the mind and mental factors that arise immediately after. The point is that if what went before does not cease, what is new cannot arise.

    Applying it in daily life

    If you want more time or more calm, start by stopping something rather than adding something.

  5. 5

    With nothing in between Samanantaraniruddhā cittacetasikā dhammā

    The phrase "with nothing in between" is the heart of this condition, since something that ceased long ago does not count as an absence condition for what arises now. The text restricts it to adjacent moments, which gives absence and disappearance the same scope as proximity and contiguity. This point is for overall understanding.

    Applying it in daily life

    What just finished a moment ago affects what is beginning far more than what finished a year ago. Mind those short joins.

  6. 6

    Disappearance: having departed Samanantaravigatā cittacetasikā dhammā

    Disappearance uses wording parallel to absence almost word for word: mind and mental factors that have departed with nothing in between are a condition, by way of disappearance, for the mind and mental factors that arise immediately after. The difference is one of aspect — one stresses no longer being there, the other having gone away. In the counting of instances the two usually come out with the same numbers.

    Applying it in daily life

    When letting something go, try both angles: it is not here any more, and it has passed. Some people find relief in one more than the other.

  7. 7

    Non-disappearance: not yet gone Avigatapaccayo

    Non-disappearance is the counterpart of disappearance and uses almost the same wording as presence: the four immaterial aggregates as conditions for one another, the four great elements as conditions for one another, through to the sense bases. In the Investigation Chapter the text therefore often abbreviates, listing "a condition by way of absence, by way of disappearance, by way of non-disappearance" in a row without expansion.

    Applying it in daily life

    Notice what has not yet gone and look after it, because what is still here is what you can still do something about.

Try it in daily life

What is striking about this set is that the text does not treat disappearing as mere emptiness; it treats disappearing as a condition in its own right. The old must cease before the new can arise in its place.

In everyday terms, many things we want do not call for adding but for stopping. Free time does not come from finding more time but from ceasing to do something. Calm does not come from adding activities but from taking something out.

On the other side, presence reminds us that what is still standing is in fact holding things up. A relationship still intact, health that still holds, work that is still steady — all of these quietly support everything else, and we usually only notice once they are gone.

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