Comm. NT: 3. Cf. Peṭ 128. In the commentary to the Āyatana-Vibhaṅga we find:
1. Suttantabhājanīyavaṇṇanā
As when a saucer (say) falls and breaks
- impermanence is obvious.
As when a boil (say) appears in the body;
pain is obvious.
the characteristic of not-self is not obvious; …
Whether Perfect Ones arise or do not arise the characteristics of impermanence and pain are made known,
but unless there is the arising of a Buddha the characteristic of not-self is not made known.
Again, in the commentary to Majjhima Nikāya Sutta 22:
2. Alagaddūpamasuttavaṇṇanā
Having been, it is not, therefore it is impermanent;
it is impermanent for four reasons, that is, in the sense of the state of rise and fall, of change, of temporariness, and of denying permanence.
It is painful on account of the mode of oppression; it is painful for four reasons, that is, in the sense of burning, of being hard to bear, of being the basis for pain, and of opposing pleasure …
it is not-self for four reasons, that is, in the sense of voidness, of having no owner-master, of having no Overlord, and of opposing self.
Commenting on this Vism paragraph, Vism-mhṭ says:
Upakkilesavimuttaudayabbayañāṇakathāvaṇṇanā
‘When continuity is disrupted’ means when continuity is exposed by observing the perpetual otherness of states as they go on occurring in succession.
For it is not through the connectedness of states that the characteristic of impermanence becomes apparent to one who rightly observes rise and fall, but rather the characteristic becomes more thoroughly evident through their disconnectedness, as if they were iron darts.
‘When the postures are exposed’ means when the concealment of the pain that is actually inherent in the postures is exposed.
For when pain arises in a posture, the next posture adopted removes the pain, as it were, concealing it. But once it is correctly known how the pain
in any posture is shifted by substituting another posture for that one, then the concealment of the pain that is in them is exposed because it has become evident that formations are being incessantly overwhelmed by pain.
‘Resolution of the compact’ is effected by resolving [what appears compact] in this way, ‘The earth element is one, the water element is another’ etc., distinguishing each one; and in this way, ‘Contact is one, feeling is another’ etc., distinguishing each one.
‘When the resolution of the compact is effected’ means that what is compact as a mass and what is compact as a function or as an object has been analyzed.
For when material and immaterial states have arisen mutually steadying each other, [mentality and materiality, for example,] then, owing to misinterpreting that as a unity, compactness of mass is assumed through failure to subject formations to pressure. And likewise compactness of function is assumed when, although definite differences exist in such and such states’ functions, they are taken as one. And likewise compactness of object is assumed when, although differences exist in the ways in which states that take objects make them their objects, those objects are taken as one. But when they are seen after resolving them by means of knowledge into these elements, they disintegrate like froth subjected to compression by the hand. They are mere states (dhamma) occurring due to conditions and void. In this way the characteristic of not-self becomes more evident.