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+ | ====== Wings to Awakening: Part III ====== | ||
+ | <span hide> | ||
+ | |||
+ | Summary: | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | <div #h_meta> | ||
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+ | <div # | ||
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+ | </ | ||
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+ | <div # | ||
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+ | <div # | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div navigation></ | ||
+ | |||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <span # | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div alphalist> | ||
+ | <span hlist> [[index|Intro]] | [[part1|Part I]] | [[part2|Part II]] | Part III | [[end|End]] </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===== Contents ===== | ||
+ | <div chapter> | ||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | * A. [[# | ||
+ | * B. Persistence — see the [[part2# | ||
+ | * C. Mindfulness — see the [[part2# | ||
+ | * D. [[# | ||
+ | * E. [[# | ||
+ | * F. [[# | ||
+ | * G. [[# | ||
+ | * H. [[# | ||
+ | * i. [[# | ||
+ | * ii. [[# | ||
+ | * iii. [[# | ||
+ | * iv. The Fourth Truth ([[# | ||
+ | |||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ====== A. Conviction ====== | ||
+ | <div chapter> | ||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | As we noted in the Introduction, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Of the five faculties, the faculty of conviction covers the most ground, as it includes the total context for the practice of the Buddha' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Passage [[part2# | ||
+ | |||
+ | The two lists of the factors of stream-entry are similar in that they both cover all three aspects of conviction: social (whom to trust), intellectual (what to believe), and practical (how to act as a result). Because conviction is focused not on a descriptive proposition but on a course of action — the skillful mastery of the processes of kamma in a social context — these aspects are inextricably intertwined. The social aspect comes from the need to associate with people who have already mastered these processes, learning from their words and emulating their actions. The intellectual aspect — belief in the principle of kamma — is necessary because the development of skillfulness within the mind requires that one understand the nature of kamma, take responsibility for one's actions, and have conviction in one's ability to benefit from developing one's skills. The practical aspect is necessary, for if one does not follow through in developing skill, it shows that one's conviction in the development of skillfulness is not genuine, and that one is not fully benefiting from one's beliefs. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The relationship of these factors to the development of skillfulness is shown in several passages. For instance, [[part2# | ||
+ | |||
+ | To understand the detailed interaction of the social, intellectual, | ||
+ | |||
+ | The passages in this section focusing on the social aspect of conviction touch on two major issues: how to recognize good people, and why one should associate with them. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Passage [[part3# | ||
+ | |||
+ | Passage [[part3# | ||
+ | |||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | The reason why a person embarking on the path to practice would need to <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | The wide availability of books on Buddhism tends to obscure the fact that the truths of the Buddha' | ||
+ | |||
+ | With the issue of verbal knowledge we move from the social aspect of conviction to its **intellectual aspect.** The content of the verbal knowledge that can be picked up from good people begins with what [[part2# | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | As noted in [[part2# | ||
+ | |||
+ | These beliefs form the basis for the three points mentioned above as the teachings of good people: generosity, going forth, and service to one's parents {[[part3# | ||
+ | |||
+ | Although <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | the fool stays with the wise, | ||
+ | he knows nothing of the Dhamma — | ||
+ | as the <span anchor # | ||
+ | the taste of the soup. | ||
+ | Even if for a moment, | ||
+ | a perceptive person stays with the wise, | ||
+ | he knows the Dhamma — | ||
+ | as the tongue, | ||
+ | the taste of the soup.]!</ | ||
+ | |||
+ | The purpose of meditation, in which one consciously develops mindfulness and discernment so as to master and understand the skillful use of the mind, is to turn one into the perceptive person who can fully understand the Dhamma. | ||
+ | |||
+ | With <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | Several passages {[[part2# | ||
+ | |||
+ | This unwillingness to endorse other paths, however, does not necessarily lead to intolerance. Buddhism' | ||
+ | |||
+ | But because the principle of kamma is a teaching of full personal responsibility, | ||
+ | |||
+ | To attain this level of unshakable conviction requires that one put the Dhamma into practice. This shows the intimate relationship between the intellectual and practical aspects of conviction: one must have a certain level of intellectual understanding of the doctrinal Dhamma before one can practice it, and one must practice it to the point of touching the Dhamma of Deathlessness as an attainment before one's conviction in the teaching of the Dhamma can become unshakably firm. <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | The **practical aspect** of conviction, prior to stream-entry, | ||
+ | |||
+ | With the attainment of stream-entry, | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===== Passages from the Pali canon ===== | ||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'And how does a monk who has admirable people as friends, companions, & comrades, develop & pursue the noble eightfold path? There is the case where a monk develops right view dependent on seclusion, dependent on dispassion, dependent on cessation, resulting in letting go. He develops right resolve... right speech... right action... right livelihood... right effort... right mindfulness... right concentration dependent on seclusion... dispassion... cessation, resulting in letting go. This is how a monk who has admirable people as friends, companions, & comrades, develops & pursues the noble eightfold path. | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'And through this line of reasoning one may know how admirable friendship, admirable companionship, | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | There may be the case where a Dhamma disagreement arises, with the Blessed One on one side and the Community of monks & the Community of nuns on the other. I would be on the same side as the Blessed One. May the Blessed One remember this as my confidence in him... | ||
+ | |||
+ | There may be the case where a Dhamma disagreement arises, with the Blessed One on one side and the Community of monks & the Community of nuns & the male lay followers & the female lay followers & the world with its devas, māras, brahmās, its generations with their contemplatives & brahmans, their royalty & common folk on the other. I would be on the same side as the Blessed One. May the Blessed One remember this as my confidence in him. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Buddha [turning to Mahānāma' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Godha: I have nothing to say about Mahānāma when he speaks in such a way, except that he is admirable & skillful. | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div freeverse> | ||
+ | Householders & the homeless | ||
+ | in mutual dependence | ||
+ | both reach the true Dhamma — | ||
+ | the unsurpassed safety from bondage. | ||
+ | |||
+ | From householders, | ||
+ | receive requisites — robes, lodgings, | ||
+ | protection from inclemencies. | ||
+ | While in dependence on those well-gone, | ||
+ | home-loving householders | ||
+ | have conviction in Arahants | ||
+ | of noble discernment, | ||
+ | absorbed in jhāna. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Having practiced the Dhamma here, | ||
+ | the path leading to good destinations, | ||
+ | delighting in the <span anchor # | ||
+ | they rejoice | ||
+ | enjoying sensual pleasures.]! < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | I tell you, monks, there are two people who are not easy to repay. Which two? Your mother & father. Even if you were to carry your mother on one shoulder & your father on the other shoulder for 100 years, and were to look after them by anointing, massaging, bathing, & rubbing their limbs, and they were to defecate & urinate right there (on your shoulders), you would not in that way pay or repay your parents. If you were to establish your mother & father in absolute sovereignty over this great earth, abounding in the seven treasures, you would not in that way pay or repay your parents. Why is that? Mother & father do much for their children. They care for them, they nourish them, they introduce them to this world. But anyone who rouses his unbelieving mother & father, settles & establishes them in conviction; rouses his unvirtuous mother & father, settles & establishes them in virtue; rouses his stingy mother & father, settles & establishes them in generosity; rouses his foolish mother & father, settles & establishes them in discernment {[[part3# | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div freeverse> | ||
+ | Mother & father | ||
+ | compassionate to their family | ||
+ | are called | ||
+ | Brahmā, | ||
+ | first teachers | ||
+ | those worthy of gifts from their children. | ||
+ | |||
+ | So the sage should pay them | ||
+ | homage | ||
+ | honor | ||
+ | with food & drink | ||
+ | clothing & bedding | ||
+ | anointing & bathing | ||
+ | & washing their feet. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Performing these services to their parents, the wise | ||
+ | are praised right here | ||
+ | and after death | ||
+ | rejoice in <span anchor # | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | Just as when the devas pour <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | Now, I tell you, clear knowing & release have their nutriment. They are not without nutriment. And what is their nutriment? The seven factors for Awakening... And what is the nutriment for the seven factors for Awakening? The four frames of reference... And what is the nutriment for the four frames of reference? The three forms of right conduct... And what is the nutriment for the three forms of right conduct? Restraint of the senses... And what is the nutriment for restraint of the senses? Mindfulness & alertness... And what is the nutriment for mindfulness & alertness? <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | Just as when the devas pour rain in heavy drops & crash thunder on the upper mountains: the water, flowing down along the slopes, fills the mountain clefts & rifts & gullies... the little ponds... the big lakes... the little rivers... the big rivers. When the big rivers are full, they fill the great ocean, and thus is the great ocean fed, thus is it filled. In the same way, when associating with people of integrity is brought to fulfillment, | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | There is the case where a monk dwells in dependence on the Teacher, or another fellow in the holy life worthy of being a teacher, under whom he becomes firmly established in a strong sense of shame & compunction, | ||
+ | |||
+ | {And what is the treasure of shame? There is the case where a disciple of the noble ones feels shame at (the thought of engaging in) bodily misconduct, verbal misconduct, mental misconduct. This is called the treasure of shame. | ||
+ | |||
+ | And what is the treasure of compunction? | ||
+ | |||
+ | As he so lives, he periodically approaches his teacher to ask & inquire of him, 'How, venerable sir, does this happen? What is the meaning of this?' To him the teacher reveals what is hidden, clarifies what is obscure, and dispels any doubt he may have about the various things that give him reason to doubt. This is the second cause, the second condition... | ||
+ | |||
+ | When he has heard the Dhamma, he accomplishes twofold seclusion: seclusion of body & seclusion of mind. This is the third cause, the third condition... | ||
+ | |||
+ | He is virtuous & lives restrained by the <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | He is erudite, a keeper & storehouse of learning. He is erudite in the teachings — admirable in their beginning, admirable in their middle, admirable in their end — that affirm the holy life in letter & meaning, entirely complete, surpassingly pure; he has resolved on them, has made them familiar to his speech, has pondered them over in his mind, and has penetrated them [attuned himself to them] in terms of his views. This is the fifth cause, the fifth condition... | ||
+ | |||
+ | He keeps his persistence aroused for abandoning unskillful mental qualities and taking on skillful mental qualities. He is steadfast, solid in his effort, not shirking his duties with regard to skillful mental qualities. This is the sixth cause, the sixth condition... | ||
+ | |||
+ | When he joins the Community he is not talkative, nor does he discuss low topics. He either speaks Dhamma himself or asks someone else to, and he does not despise noble silence [the second jhāna]. This is the seventh cause, the seventh condition... | ||
+ | |||
+ | Finally, he remains focused on the arising & passing away of the five clinging-aggregates: | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div freeverse> | ||
+ | Regard him as one who | ||
+ | points out | ||
+ | treasure, | ||
+ | the wise one who | ||
+ | seeing your faults | ||
+ | rebukes you. | ||
+ | Stay with this sort of sage. | ||
+ | For the one who stays | ||
+ | with a sage of this sort, | ||
+ | things get better, | ||
+ | not worse. | ||
+ | ]! < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | When people of integrity in the world show compassion, they will first show compassion to people of conviction, and not to people without conviction. When visiting, they first visit people of conviction, and not people without conviction. When accepting gifts, they will first accept those from people with conviction, and not from people without conviction. When teaching the Dhamma, they will first teach those with conviction, and not those without conviction. A person of conviction, on the breakup of the body, after death, will arise in a good destination, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Just as a large <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div freeverse> | ||
+ | A massive tree whose branches carry fruits & leaves, | ||
+ | with trunks & roots & an abundance of fruits: | ||
+ | There the birds find rest. | ||
+ | In that delightful sphere they make their home. | ||
+ | Those seeking shade come to the shade, | ||
+ | those seeking fruit find fruit to eat. | ||
+ | |||
+ | So with the person consummate | ||
+ | in virtue & conviction, | ||
+ | humble, sensitive, gentle, delightful, & mild: | ||
+ | To him come those without effluent, | ||
+ | free from passion, | ||
+ | free from aversion, | ||
+ | free from delusion: | ||
+ | the field of merit for the world. | ||
+ | They teach him the Dhamma | ||
+ | that dispels all stress. | ||
+ | And when he understands, | ||
+ | he is freed from effluents, | ||
+ | totally unbound. | ||
+ | ]! < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div freeverse> | ||
+ | Growing in conviction & virtue, | ||
+ | discernment, | ||
+ | a virtuous female lay disciple | ||
+ | such as this | ||
+ | takes hold of the essence within herself. | ||
+ | ]! < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===== B. Persistence ===== | ||
+ | <div chapter> | ||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | //See the [[part2# | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===== C. Mindfulness ===== | ||
+ | <div chapter> | ||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | //See the [[part2# | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===== D. Concentration: | ||
+ | <div chapter> | ||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | Several discourses in the Canon [such as [[en: | ||
+ | |||
+ | This last point makes them particularly tricky to deal with, for one needs to have a sense that they are unbeneficial states of mind before one can work at abandoning them, yet while one is overcome with them, they impair one's ability to see that they are in fact unbeneficial {[[part3# | ||
+ | |||
+ | Although the hindrances cannot be totally relinquished prior to the various stages of Awakening, they can be lessened on a preliminary level to the point where the mind can settle down in jhāna. This preliminary level is the focus of the passages in this section. Passage [[part3# | ||
+ | |||
+ | To escape the double bind mentioned above — the fact that the hindrances blind one to one's own true best interests, and yet one needs to see those true interests if one is to overcome the hindrances — one must depend on all five faculties as one has been able to develop them. <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | Because preliminary levels of concentration and discernment are present in right exertion and the practice of the frames of reference, these faculties play a role in abandoning the hindrances as well. As they develop strength, they make one more and more skilled in cutting off the hindrances as effectively as possible. The seven factors for Awakening, which are developed in concentration, | ||
+ | |||
+ | For instance, discernment makes one able to see the feeling of sensual desire as one thing, and the object of the desire as something separate. This ability is crucial in a number of ways. To begin with, it helps separate the positive qualities of the object from the act of desiring the object, so that one does not confuse the two. The tendency to confuse the two is what makes it hard to see the drawbacks of the desire when it is present in the mind, and at the same time, serves to harden the mind in general against the Buddha' | ||
+ | |||
+ | There is a widespread feeling that Buddhism gives an unfair valuation of sensuality and is blind to the positive beauties of sensual objects, but this is simply not true. The Buddha admitted that sensual objects have their beauty and can give a measure of satisfaction [[en: | ||
+ | |||
+ | More importantly, | ||
+ | |||
+ | This point applies to the other hindrances as well. For instance, when one can separate the object of one's anger from the anger itself as a mental event, one can see the obvious drawbacks of allowing anger to take over the mind. | ||
+ | |||
+ | In addition, the ability to separate the act from its object enables one to become sensitive to the act before it becomes overpowering, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Passage [[part3# | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===== Passages from the Pali canon ===== | ||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | Suppose there were a <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | But suppose there were a river, flowing down from the mountains, going far, its current swift, carrying everything with it: If a man were to close off the watercourses leading off from both sides, the current in the middle of the river would not be interrupted, | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | In the same way, when the mind is debased by these five impurities, it is not pliant, malleable, or luminous. It is brittle and not rightly concentrated for the ending of the effluents. Which five? Sensual desire, ill will, sloth & drowsiness, restlessness & anxiety, and uncertainty... But when the mind is not debased by these five impurities, it is pliant, malleable, & luminous. It is not brittle and is rightly concentrated for the ending of the effluents. Then whichever of the six higher knowledges {[[part2# | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | Now imagine a bowl of water heated on a fire, boiling & bubbling over, such that a man with good eyesight examining the reflection of his face in it would not be able to know or see his face as it has come to be. In the same way, when one remains with awareness possessed by ill will, overcome with ill will, and neither knows nor sees the escape, as it has come to be, from ill will once it has arisen, then one neither knows nor sees what is for one's own benefit, or for the benefit of others, or for the benefit of both... | ||
+ | |||
+ | Now imagine a bowl of water covered with algae & slime, such that a man with good eyesight examining the reflection of his face in it would not be able to know or see his face as it has come to be. In the same way, when one remains with awareness possessed by sloth & drowsiness, overcome with sloth & drowsiness, and neither knows nor sees the escape, as it has come to be, from sloth & drowsiness once it has arisen, then one neither knows nor sees what is for one's own benefit, or for the benefit of others, or for the benefit of both... | ||
+ | |||
+ | Now imagine a bowl of water ruffled by the wind, disturbed, & covered with waves, such that a man with good eyesight examining the reflection of his face in it would not be able to know or see his face as it has come to be. In the same way, when one remains with awareness possessed by restlessness & anxiety, overcome with restlessness & anxiety, and neither knows nor sees the escape, as it has come to be, from restlessness & anxiety once it has arisen, then one neither knows nor sees what is for one's own benefit, or for the benefit of others, or for the benefit of both... | ||
+ | |||
+ | Now imagine a bowl of water stirred up, turbid, muddied, & left in the dark, such that a man with good eyesight examining the reflection of his face in it would not be able to know or see his face as it has come to be. In the same way, when one remains with awareness possessed by uncertainty, | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | Now suppose that a <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | Now suppose that a <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | Now suppose that a man is a <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | Now suppose that a man, carrying money & goods, is traveling by a <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | In the same way, when these five hindrances are not abandoned within him, the monk regards it as a debt, a sickness, a prison, slavery, a road through desolate country. But when these five hindrances are abandoned within him, he regards it as unindebtedness, | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div freeverse> | ||
+ | Rushing headlong, missing what's essential, | ||
+ | bringing on one new bond after another, | ||
+ | like insects falling into the flame, | ||
+ | some are intent only on what's seen & heard. | ||
+ | ]! < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div freeverse> | ||
+ | Clinging to sensuality, to sensual ties, | ||
+ | seeing no blame in the fetter, | ||
+ | never will those tied up in the fetter | ||
+ | cross over the flood so great & wide. | ||
+ | ]! < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | A man attends inwardly to his masculine faculties, masculine gestures, masculine manners, masculine poise, masculine desires, masculine voice, masculine charms. He is excited by that, delighted by that. Being excited & delighted by that, he attends outwardly to feminine faculties, feminine gestures, feminine manners, feminine poise, feminine desires, feminine voices, feminine charms. He is excited by that, delighted by that... wants to be bonded to what is outside him, wants whatever pleasure & happiness that arise based on that bond. Delighting, caught up in his masculinity, | ||
+ | |||
+ | And how is there lack of bondage? A woman does not attend inwardly to her feminine faculties... feminine charms. She is not excited by that, not delighted by that... does not attend outwardly to masculine faculties... masculine charms. She is not excited by that, not delighted by that... does not want to be bonded to what is outside her, does not want whatever pleasure & happiness that arise based on that bond. Not delighting, not caught up in her femininity, a woman does not go into bondage with reference to men. This is how a woman transcends her femininity. | ||
+ | |||
+ | A man does not attend inwardly to his masculine faculties... masculine charms. He is not excited by that, not delighted by that... does not attend outwardly to feminine faculties... feminine charms. He is not excited by that, not delighted by that... does not want to be bonded to what is outside him, does not want whatever pleasure & happiness that arise based on that bond. Not delighting, not caught up in his masculinity, | ||
+ | |||
+ | This is how there is lack of bondage. And this is the Dhamma discourse on bondage & lack of bondage. | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'No, lord. And why is that? Because the chain of bones is thoroughly scraped, without any flesh, & smeared with blood. The dog would get nothing but weariness & vexation.' | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'In the same way, householder, | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'Now suppose a vulture, a kite, or a hawk were to take off, having seized a <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'Yes, lord.' | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'In the same way, householder, | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'Now suppose a man were to come against the wind, carrying a burning grass <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'Yes, lord.' | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'In the same way, householder, | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'Now suppose there were a <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'Yes, lord. And why is that? Because he would realize, "If I fall into this pit of glowing embers, I will meet with death from that cause, or with death-like pain."' | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'In the same way, householder, | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'Now suppose a man, when <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'Now suppose a man having <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'No, lord. And why is that? Because the owners are stripping him of what is theirs.' | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'In the same way, householder, | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'Now suppose that, not far from a village or town, there were a dense forest grove, and there in the grove was a tree with delicious <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'Yes, lord.' | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'In the same way, householder, | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | Māgandiya: Yes, Master Gotama. Why is that? The fire is painful to the touch, very hot & scorching. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Buddha: Now what do you think? Is the fire painful to the touch, very hot & scorching, only now, or was it also that way before? | ||
+ | |||
+ | Māgandiya: Both now & before is it painful to the touch, very hot & scorching. It's just that when the man was a leper... his faculties were impaired, which was why, even though the fire was actually painful to the touch, he had the skewed perception of ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Buddha: In the same way, sensuality in the past was painful to the touch, very hot & scorching; sensuality in the future will be painful to the touch, very hot & scorching; sensuality at present is painful to the touch, very hot & scorching; but when beings are not free from passion for sensuality — devoured by sensual craving, burning with sensual fever — their faculties are impaired, which is why, even though sensuality is actually painful to the touch, they have the skewed perception of ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Now suppose that there was a leper covered with sores & infections, devoured by worms, picking the scabs off the openings of his wounds with his nails, cauterizing his body over a pit of glowing embers. The more he cauterized his body over the pit of glowing embers, the more disgusting, foul-smelling, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Now what do you think? Have you ever seen or heard of a king or king's minister — enjoying himself, provided & endowed with the five strings of sensuality, without abandoning sensual craving, without removing sensual fever — who has dwelt or will dwell or is dwelling free from thirst, his mind inwardly at peace? | ||
+ | |||
+ | Māgandiya: No, Master Gotama. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Buddha: Very good, Māgandiya. Neither have I... But whatever contemplatives or brahmans who have dwelt or will dwell or are dwelling free from thirst, their minds inwardly at peace, all have done so having realized — as it has come to be — the origination & disappearance, | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div freeverse> | ||
+ | Look at the beautified image, | ||
+ | a heap of festering wounds, shored up: | ||
+ | ill, but the object | ||
+ | of many resolves, | ||
+ | where there is nothing | ||
+ | lasting or sure. | ||
+ | |||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | plastered over with flesh & blood, | ||
+ | whose hidden treasures are: | ||
+ | pride & deceit, | ||
+ | aging & death.]! < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div freeverse> | ||
+ | Not even if it <span anchor # | ||
+ | would we have our fill | ||
+ | of sensual pleasures. | ||
+ | ' | ||
+ | they give little enjoyment' | ||
+ | knowing this, the wise one finds no delight | ||
+ | even in heavenly sensual pleasures. | ||
+ | He is one who delights in the ending of craving, | ||
+ | a disciple of the Rightly Self-Awakened One.]! < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div freeverse> | ||
+ | "What wrong have I done you | ||
+ | that you stand in my way? | ||
+ | It's not proper, my friend, | ||
+ | that a man should touch | ||
+ | a woman gone forth. | ||
+ | I respect the Teacher' | ||
+ | the training pointed out by the one well-gone. | ||
+ | I am pure, | ||
+ | Why do you stand in my way? | ||
+ | You — your mind agitated, | ||
+ | I — unagitated; | ||
+ | You — impassioned, | ||
+ | I — unimpassioned, | ||
+ | with a mind everywhere released: | ||
+ | Why do you stand in my way?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | "You are young & not bad-looking, | ||
+ | what need do you have for going forth? | ||
+ | Throw off your ochre robe — | ||
+ | Come, let's delight in the flowering forest. | ||
+ | A sweetness they exude from all around, | ||
+ | the towering trees with their pollen. | ||
+ | The beginning of spring is a pleasant season — | ||
+ | Come, let's delight in the flowering forest. | ||
+ | The trees with their blossoming tips | ||
+ | moan, as it were, in the breeze: | ||
+ | What delight will you have | ||
+ | if you plunge into the forest alone? | ||
+ | Frequented by herds of wild beasts, | ||
+ | disturbed by elephants rutting & aroused: | ||
+ | you want to go unaccompanied | ||
+ | into the great, lonely, frightening forest? | ||
+ | Like a doll made of gold, you will go about, | ||
+ | like a goddess in the gardens of heaven. | ||
+ | With delicate, smooth <span anchor # | ||
+ | you will shine, O beauty without compare. | ||
+ | I would be under your power | ||
+ | if we were to dwell in the wood. | ||
+ | For there is no creature dearer to me | ||
+ | than you, | ||
+ | O nymph with the languid regard. | ||
+ | If you do as I ask, happy, come live in my house. | ||
+ | Dwelling in the calm of a palace, | ||
+ | have women wait on you, | ||
+ | wear delicate Kāsi fabrics, | ||
+ | adorn yourself with garlands & creams. | ||
+ | I will make you many & varied ornaments | ||
+ | of gold, jewels, & pearls. | ||
+ | Climb onto a costly bed, | ||
+ | scented with sandalwood carvings, | ||
+ | with a well-washed coverlet, beautiful, | ||
+ | spread with a woolen quilt, brand new. | ||
+ | Like a blue lotus rising from the water, | ||
+ | where there dwell non-human spirits, | ||
+ | you will go to old age with your limbs unseen, | ||
+ | if you stay as you are in the holy life." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "What do you assume of any essence, | ||
+ | here in this cemetery grower, filled with corpses, | ||
+ | this body destined to break up? | ||
+ | What do you see when you look at me, | ||
+ | you who are out of your mind?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | | ||
+ | are like those of a fawn, | ||
+ | like those of a nymph in the mountains. | ||
+ | Seeing your eyes, my sensual delight | ||
+ | grows all the more. | ||
+ | Like tips they are, of blue lotuses, | ||
+ | in your golden face | ||
+ | — spotless: | ||
+ | Seeing your eyes, my sensual delight | ||
+ | grows all the more. | ||
+ | Even if you should go far away, | ||
+ | I will think only of your pure, | ||
+ | long-lashed gaze, | ||
+ | for there is nothing dearer to me | ||
+ | than your eyes, | ||
+ | O nymph with the languid regard." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "You want to stray from the road, | ||
+ | you want the moon as a plaything, | ||
+ | you want to jump over Mount <span anchor # | ||
+ | you who have designs on one born of the Buddha. | ||
+ | For there is nothing anywhere at all | ||
+ | in the world with its devas, | ||
+ | that would be an object of passion for me. | ||
+ | I don't even know what that passion would be, | ||
+ | for it's been killed, root & all, by the path. | ||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | I don't even see what that passion would be, | ||
+ | for it's been killed, root & all, by the path. | ||
+ | Try to seduce one who hasn't reflected on this, | ||
+ | or who the Teacher hasn't instructed. | ||
+ | But try it with this one who knows | ||
+ | and you do yourself violence. | ||
+ | For whether insulted or worshiped, | ||
+ | in pleasure or pain, | ||
+ | my mindfulness stands firm. | ||
+ | Knowing the unattractiveness | ||
+ | of fabricated things, | ||
+ | my heart adheres nowhere at all. | ||
+ | I am a follower of the one well-gone, | ||
+ | riding the vehicle of the eightfold way: | ||
+ | My arrow removed, effluent-free, | ||
+ | I delight, having gone to an empty dwelling. | ||
+ | For I have seen <span anchor # | ||
+ | hitched up with sticks & strings, | ||
+ | made to dance in various ways. | ||
+ | When the sticks & strings are removed, | ||
+ | thrown away, scattered, shredded, | ||
+ | smashed into pieces, not to be found, | ||
+ | in what will the mind there make its home? | ||
+ | This body of mine, which is just like that, | ||
+ | when devoid of dhammas doesn' | ||
+ | When, devoid of dhammas, it doesn' | ||
+ | in what will the mind there make its home? | ||
+ | Like a mural you've seen, painted on a wall, | ||
+ | smeared with yellow orpiment, | ||
+ | there your vision has been distorted, | ||
+ | meaningless your perception of a human being. | ||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | you run blind after what is unreal. | ||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | set in a hollow, | ||
+ | with a bubble in the middle | ||
+ | & bathed with tears, | ||
+ | eye secretions are born there too: | ||
+ | The parts of the eye | ||
+ | are rolled all together | ||
+ | in various ways." | ||
+ | |||
+ | Plucking out her lovely eye, | ||
+ | with mind unattached | ||
+ | she felt no regret. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Here, take this eye. It's yours." | ||
+ | |||
+ | Straightaway she gave it to him. | ||
+ | Straightaway his passion faded right there, | ||
+ | and he begged her forgiveness. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Be safe, follower of the holy life. | ||
+ | This sort of thing | ||
+ | won't happen again. | ||
+ | Harming a person like you | ||
+ | is like embracing a blazing fire, | ||
+ | It's as if I have seized a poisonous snake. | ||
+ | So may you be safe. Forgive me." | ||
+ | |||
+ | And freed from there, the nun | ||
+ | went to the excellent Buddha' | ||
+ | When she saw the mark of his excellent merit, | ||
+ | her eye became | ||
+ | as it was before.]! < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | When one gives birth to hatred for an individual, one should develop good will for that individual. Thus the hatred for that individual should be subdued. | ||
+ | |||
+ | When one gives birth to hatred for an individual, one should develop compassion for that individual... equanimity toward that individual... one should pay him no mind & pay him no attention... When one gives birth to hatred for an individual, one should direct one's thoughts to the fact of his being the product of kamma: 'This venerable one is the doer of kamma, heir of kamma, born of kamma, related by kamma, and has kamma as his arbitrator. Whatever kamma he does, for good or for evil, to that will he fall heir.' Thus the hatred for that individual should be subdued. | ||
+ | |||
+ | These are five ways of subduing hatred by which, when hatred arises in a monk, he should wipe it out completely. | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | There are some people who are impure in their verbal behavior but pure in their bodily behavior. Hatred for a person of this sort should also be subdued. | ||
+ | |||
+ | There are some people who are impure in their bodily behavior & verbal behavior, but who periodically experience mental clarity & calm. Hatred for a person of this sort should also be subdued. | ||
+ | |||
+ | There are some people who are impure in their bodily behavior & verbal behavior, and who do not periodically experience mental clarity & calm. Hatred for a person of this sort should also be subdued. | ||
+ | |||
+ | There are some people who are pure in their bodily behavior & their verbal behavior, and who periodically experience mental clarity & calm. Hatred for a person of this sort should also be subdued. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Now as for a person who is impure in his bodily behavior but pure in his verbal behavior, how should one subdue hatred for him? Just as when a monk who makes use of things that are thrown away sees a <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | And as for a person who is impure in his verbal behavior, but pure in his bodily behavior, how should one subdue hatred for him? Just as when there is a <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | And as for a person who is impure in his bodily behavior & verbal behavior, but who periodically experiences mental clarity & calm, how should one subdue hatred for him? Just as when there is a little <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | And as for a person who is impure in his bodily behavior & verbal behavior, and who does not periodically experience mental clarity & calm, how should one subdue hatred for him? Just as when there is a <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | And as for a person who is pure in his bodily behavior & verbal behavior, and who periodically experiences mental clarity & calm, how should one subdue hatred for him? Just as when there is a pool of clear water — sweet, cool, & limpid, with gently sloping banks, & shaded on all sides by trees of many kinds — and a person comes along, burning with heat, covered with sweat, exhausted, trembling, & thirsty. Having plunged into the pool, having bathed & drunk & come back out, he would sit down or lie down right there in the shade of the trees. In the same way, when an individual is pure in his bodily behavior & verbal behavior, and periodically experiences mental clarity & calm, one should at that time pay attention to the purity of his bodily behavior... the purity of his verbal behavior, and to the fact that he periodically experiences mental clarity & calm. Thus the hatred for him should be subdued. An entirely inspiring individual can make the mind grow serene. | ||
+ | |||
+ | These are five ways of subduing hatred by which, when hatred arises in a monk, he should wipe it out completely. | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div freeverse> | ||
+ | 'He insulted me, hit me, beat me, robbed me' — | ||
+ | for those who brood on this, | ||
+ | hostility isn't stilled. | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'He insulted me, hit me, beat me, robbed me' — | ||
+ | for those who don't brood on this, | ||
+ | hostility is stilled. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Hostilities aren't stilled through hostility, | ||
+ | regardless. | ||
+ | Hostilities are stilled through non-hostility: | ||
+ | this, an unending truth. | ||
+ | ]! < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'Yes, lord.' | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'Well then, Moggallāna, | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'But if by doing this you don't shake off your drowsiness, then recall to your awareness the Dhamma as you have heard & memorized it, re-examine it & ponder it over in your mind. It's possible that by doing this you will shake off your drowsiness. | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'But if by doing this you don't shake off your drowsiness, then repeat aloud in detail the Dhamma as you have heard & memorized it. It's possible that by doing this you will shake off your drowsiness. | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'But if by doing this you don't shake off your drowsiness, then pull both your earlobes and rub your limbs with your hands. It's possible that by doing this you will shake off your drowsiness. | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'But if by doing this you don't shake off your drowsiness, then get up from your seat and, after washing your eyes out with water, look around in all directions and upward to the major stars & constellations. It's possible that by doing this you will shake off your drowsiness. | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'But if by doing this you don't shake off your drowsiness, then attend to the perception of light, resolve on the perception of daytime, (dwelling) by night as by day, and by day as by night. By means of an awareness thus open & unhampered, develop a brightened mind {[[part2# | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'But if by doing this you don't shake off your drowsiness, then — percipient of what lies in front & behind — set a distance to meditate walking back & forth, your senses inwardly immersed, your mind not straying outward. It's possible that by doing this you will shake off your drowsiness. | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'But if by doing this you don't shake off your drowsiness, then — reclining on your right side — take up the lion's posture, one foot placed on top of the other, mindful, alert, with your mind set on getting up. As soon as you wake up, get up quickly, with the thought, "I won't stay indulging in the pleasure of lying down, the pleasure of reclining, the pleasure of drowsiness." | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'Thus, Moggallāna, | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===== E. Right Concentration ===== | ||
+ | <div chapter> | ||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | The passages in this section deal with <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | * What is right concentration? | ||
+ | * How is it mastered? | ||
+ | * How can it be put to use? | ||
+ | |||
+ | To answer **the first question:** Passage [[part3# | ||
+ | |||
+ | The singleness of jhāna means not only that awareness is focused on a single object, but also that the object is reduced to a single quality that fills the entirety of one's awareness, at the same time that one's awareness broadens to suffuse the entire object. This mutual pervasion of awareness and object in a state of expansion is what is meant by // | ||
+ | |||
+ | There are two basic types of jhāna, which the <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | For a person practicing form jhāna in either sense of the term, the equanimity experienced with the sense of beautiful radiance can then act as the basis for the formless levels of jhāna, which the Canon terms the four " | ||
+ | |||
+ | As for **the second question,** on how to <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | To begin with, internal obstacles to the practice of jhāna do not end with the preliminary ground-clearing of the hindrances discussed in the preceding section. More refined levels of unskillful mental states can get in the way {[[part3# | ||
+ | |||
+ | 1) One ignores the obstacles. This works on the principle that paying attention to the distraction feeds the distraction, | ||
+ | |||
+ | 2) One notices that the act of thinking a distracting thought actually takes more energy than not thinking the thought, and one consciously relaxes whatever tension or energy happens to accompany it. This approach works best when one is sensitive enough to bodily sensations to see the pattern of physical tension that appears in conjunction with the thought, and can intentionally relax it. | ||
+ | |||
+ | 3) The approach of last resort is simply to exert force on the mind to drive out the distracting thought. This is a temporary stopgap measure that works only as long as mindfulness is firm and determination strong. It is useful in cases where discernment is not yet sharp enough to make the other approaches work, but once discernment is up to the task, the other approaches are more effective in the long run. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Another point to keep in mind in understanding the maps of the practice is that they list the steps of meditation, not in the order in which they will be experienced, | ||
+ | |||
+ | One qualification here is that it is not necessary to master all the levels of concentration in order to gain Awakening. The relationship of concentration to discernment is a controversial issue, which we will cover in the following section, but here we may simply note that many texts {[[part3# | ||
+ | |||
+ | The fact that the higher stages are unnecessary in some cases, however, does not mean that they are superfluous. Many people, as they develop the skill of their meditation, will find that their minds naturally go to deeper levels of stillness with no liberating insight arising. For them, the maps are valuable aids for a number of reasons. To begin with, the maps can help indicate what does and does not count as Awakening. When one arrives at a new, more refined level of awareness in one's practice, it is easy to assume that one has attained the goal. Comparing one's experience to the maps, however, can show that the experience is simply a higher level of concentration. Furthermore, | ||
+ | |||
+ | However, the maps should not be used to plan one's practice in advance. This is the message of [[part3# | ||
+ | |||
+ | Finally, although the maps to the various stages of concentration seem exhaustive and complete, bear in mind that they list only the stages of //right// concentration, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Another type of wrong concentration is one that a modern practice tradition, following DN 1, calls a state of non-perception// | ||
+ | |||
+ | With these points in mind we can now turn to the maps to see their answer to the question of how breath meditation leads to the mastery of jhāna. As noted above, the practice of keeping the breath in mind is the meditation method that the Canon teaches in most detail. There are two possible reasons for this, one historical and the other more theoretical. From the historical point of view, the breath was the focal point that the Buddha himself used on the night of his own Awakening. From the theoretical perspective, | ||
+ | |||
+ | The first two steps of breath meditation {[[part3# | ||
+ | |||
+ | The remaining steps are willed or determined: One " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Once this stage is reached, steps 10-12 indicate that one can now turn one's attention to consolidating one's mastery of concentration. One does this by reviewing the various levels of jhāna, focusing not so much on the breath as on the mind as it relates to the breath. This allows a perception of the different ways in which the mind can be satisfied and steadied, and the different factors from which it can be released by taking it through the different levels of jhāna — for example, releasing it from rapture by taking it from the second level to the third, and so forth {[[part3# | ||
+ | |||
+ | Another way of consolidating one's skills in the course of these steps is to examine the subtle defilements that interfere with full mastery of concentration. The fact that one's focus is now on the mind makes it possible to see these defilements clearly, and then to steady the mind even further by releasing it from them. Passage [[part3# | ||
+ | |||
+ | The mastery of concentration developed in steps 9-12 provides an excellent chance to develop discernment into the pattern of cause and effect in the process of concentrating the mind, in that one must master the causal factors before one can gain the desired results in terms of satisfaction, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Another development that can happen during these steps — although this goes outside of the practice of breath meditation //per se// — is the discovery of how the equanimity developed in the fourth jhāna can be applied to other refined objects of the mind. These are the four formless jhanas: the dimension of the infinitude of space, the dimension of the infinitude of consciousness, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Passages [[part3# | ||
+ | |||
+ | We have come to the end of the list of the stages of mastery in meditative attainment, but four steps in breath meditation remain unexplained. This is because, aside from the ninth level of attainment, the stages of mastery can all be attained without developing the discernment that constitutes Awakening, while the last four steps in breath meditation deal specifically with giving rise to that discernment. This brings us to **the third question** that was broached at the beginning of this introduction: | ||
+ | |||
+ | Passage [[part3# | ||
+ | |||
+ | * a pleasant abiding in the here and now, | ||
+ | * the attainment of knowledge and vision, | ||
+ | * mindfulness and alertness, and | ||
+ | * the ending of the <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | The first use is the simple enjoyment of the experience of jhāna; the <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | This pleasure plays an important function in the practice. To begin with, it enables the mind to stay comfortably in the present moment, helping it attain the stability it needs for gaining insight. This can be compared to a scientific experiment in which the measuring equipment needs to be absolutely steady in order to give reliable readings. Second, because a great deal of sensitivity is required to " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Thus, although the pleasure of jhāna can become an obstacle if treated as an end in itself, there are phases of the practice where the pursuit of this form of pleasure is a useful strategy toward the fourth use of concentration: | ||
+ | |||
+ | Focusing on the inconstancy and unreliability of the factors in this pattern gives rise to the realization that they are also stressful and <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | Even after attaining release, <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===== Passages from the Pali canon ===== | ||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | And what is the development of concentration that, when developed & pursued, leads to a pleasant abiding in the here & now? There is the case where a monk — quite secluded from sensuality, secluded from unskillful qualities — enters & remains in the first jhāna: rapture & pleasure born from seclusion, accompanied by directed thought & evaluation. With the stilling of directed thoughts & evaluations, | ||
+ | |||
+ | And what is the development of concentration that... leads to the attainment of knowledge & vision? There is the case where a monk attends to the perception of light and is resolved on the perception of daytime [at any hour of the day]. Day (for him) is the same as night, night is the same as day. By means of an awareness open & unhampered, he develops a brightened mind. This is the development of concentration that... leads to the attainment of knowledge & vision. [§§[[part2# | ||
+ | |||
+ | And what is the development of concentration that... leads to mindfulness & alertness? There is the case where feelings are known to the monk as they arise, known as they persist, known as they subside. Perceptions are known to him as they arise, known as they persist, known as they subside. Thoughts are known to him as they arise, known as they persist, known as they subside. This is the development of concentration that... leads to mindfulness & alertness. {[[part2# | ||
+ | |||
+ | And what is the development of concentration that... leads to the ending of the effluents? There is the case where a monk remains focused on arising & falling away with reference to the five clinging-aggregates: | ||
+ | |||
+ | These are the four developments of concentration. | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | Just as if a skilled <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | Furthermore, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Just like a <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | And furthermore, | ||
+ | |||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | And furthermore, | ||
+ | |||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | And furthermore, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Just as if one person were to reflect on another, or a standing person were to reflect on a sitting person, or a sitting person were to reflect on a person lying down; even so, monks, the monk has his theme of reflection well in hand, well attended to, well pondered, well tuned by means of discernment. This is the fifth development of the five-factored noble right concentration. | ||
+ | |||
+ | When a monk has developed & pursued the five-factored noble right concentration in this way, then whichever of the six higher knowledges he turns his mind to know & realize, he can witness them for himself whenever there is an opening. {[[part2# | ||
+ | |||
+ | Suppose that there were a water <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | Yes, lord. | ||
+ | |||
+ | In the same way, when a monk has developed & pursued the five-factored noble right concentration in this way, then whichever of the six higher knowledges he turns his mind to know & realize, he can witness them for himself whenever there is an opening. | ||
+ | |||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | Yes, lord... | ||
+ | |||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | There is the case where a monk, having gone to the wilderness, to the shade of a tree, or to an empty building, sits down folding his legs crosswise, holding his body erect, and setting mindfulness to the fore. Always mindful, he breathes in; mindful he breathes out. | ||
+ | |||
+ | [1] Breathing in long, he discerns, 'I am breathing in long'; or breathing out long, he discerns, 'I am breathing out long.' [2] Or breathing in short, he discerns, 'I am breathing in short'; | ||
+ | |||
+ | [5] He trains himself, 'I will breathe in sensitive to rapture'; | ||
+ | |||
+ | [9] He trains himself, 'I will breathe in sensitive to the mind'; he trains himself, 'I will breathe out sensitive to the mind.' [10] He trains himself, 'I will breathe in gladdening the mind'; he trains himself, 'I will breathe out gladdening the mind.' [11] He trains himself, 'I will breathe in steadying the mind'; he trains himself, 'I will breathe out steadying the mind.' [12] He trains himself, 'I will breathe in releasing the mind'; he trains himself, 'I will breathe out releasing the mind.' | ||
+ | |||
+ | [13] He trains himself, 'I will breathe in focusing on inconstancy'; | ||
+ | |||
+ | This is how mindfulness of in-& | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | Ven. Ānanda: It was not the case that the Blessed One praised all sorts of jhāna, nor did he criticize all sorts of jhāna. And <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | He dwells with his awareness overcome by ill will... sloth & drowsiness... restlessness & anxiety... uncertainty, | ||
+ | |||
+ | And what sort of jhāna did he praise? There is the case where a monk — quite secluded from sensuality, secluded from unskillful qualities — enters & remains in the first jhāna... the second jhāna... the third jhāna... the fourth jhāna: purity of equanimity & mindfulness, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Vassakāra: It would seem, Master Ānanda, that Master Gotama criticized the jhāna that deserves criticism, and praised that which deserves praise. | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | A monk endowed with these five qualities is capable of entering & remaining in right concentration. Which five? He can withstand (the impact of) sights... sounds... aromas... tastes... tactile sensations. A monk endowed with these five qualities is capable of entering & remaining in right concentration. | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | A monk who has not abandoned these six qualities is incapable of entering & remaining in the first jhāna. Which six? Thoughts of sensuality, thoughts of ill will, thoughts of violence, perceptions of sensuality, perceptions of ill will, perceptions of violence. | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | There is the case where a monk is skilled in the attaining of concentration, | ||
+ | |||
+ | A monk endowed with these six qualities is capable of mastering strength in concentration. | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | There is the case where a monk is skilled in the attaining of concentration, | ||
+ | |||
+ | A monk endowed with these six qualities could break through the Himalayas, king of mountains, to say nothing of miserable ignorance. | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | Now suppose a <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | In the same way, whoever says, ' | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | There is the case where evil, unskillful thoughts — imbued with desire, aversion, or delusion — arise in a monk while he is referring to & attending to a particular theme. He should attend to another theme, apart from that one, connected with what is skillful. When he is attending to this other theme... those evil, unskillful thoughts... are abandoned & subside. With their abandoning, he steadies his mind right within, settles it, unifies it, & concentrates it. <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | If evil, unskillful thoughts — imbued with desire, aversion, or delusion — still arise in the monk while he is attending to this other theme, connected with what is skillful, he should scrutinize the drawbacks of those thoughts: ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | If evil, unskillful thoughts — imbued with desire, aversion or delusion — still arise in the monk while he is scrutinizing the drawbacks of those thoughts, he should pay no mind & pay no attention to those thoughts. As he is paying no mind & paying no attention to them... those evil, unskillful thoughts are abandoned & subside. With their abandoning, he steadies his mind right within, settles it, unifies it, & concentrates it. <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | If evil, unskillful thoughts — imbued with desire, aversion or delusion — still arise in the monk while he is paying no mind & paying no attention to those thoughts, he should attend to the relaxing of thought-fabrication with regard to those thoughts. As he is attending to the relaxing of thought-fabrication with regard to those thoughts... those evil, unskillful thoughts are abandoned & subside. With their abandoning, he steadies his mind right within, settles it, unifies it, & concentrates it. <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | If evil, unskillful thoughts — imbued with desire, aversion or delusion — still arise in the monk while he is attending to the relaxing of thought-fabrication with regard to those thoughts, then — with his teeth clenched & his tongue pressed against the roof of his mouth — he should beat down, constrain, & crush his mind with his awareness. As — with his teeth clenched & his tongue pressed against the roof of his mouth — he is beating down, constraining, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Now when a monk... attending to another theme... scrutinizing the drawbacks of those thoughts... paying no mind & paying no attention to those thoughts... attending to the relaxing of thought-fabrication with regard to those thoughts... beating down, constraining, | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | When he is rid of them, there remain the moderate impurities in the gold: coarse sand & fine grit. He washes the gold again & again until he has washed them away. | ||
+ | |||
+ | When he is rid of them, there remain the fine impurities in the gold: fine sand & black dust. The dirt-washer or his apprentice washes the gold again & again until he has washed them away. | ||
+ | |||
+ | When he is rid of them, there remains just the gold dust. The goldsmith or his apprentice, having placed it in a crucible, blows on it again & again to blow away the dross. The gold, as long as it has not been blown on again & again to the point where the impurities are blown away, as long as it is not refined & free from dross, is not pliant, malleable, or luminous. It is brittle and not ready to be worked. But there comes a time when the goldsmith or his apprentice has blown on the gold again & again until the dross is blown away. The gold... is then refined, free from dross, plaint, malleable, & luminous. It is not brittle, and is ready to be worked. Then whatever sort of ornament he has in mind — whether a belt, an earring, a necklace, or a gold chain — the gold would serve his purpose. | ||
+ | |||
+ | In the same way, there are these gross impurities in a monk intent on heightened mind: misconduct in body, speech, & mind. These the monk — aware & able by nature — abandons, destroys, dispels, wipes out of existence. When he is rid of them, there remain in him the moderate impurities: thoughts of sensuality, ill will, & violence. These he... wipes out of existence. When he is rid of them there remain in him the fine impurities: thoughts of his caste, thoughts of his home district, thoughts related to not wanting to be despised. These he... wipes out of existence. | ||
+ | |||
+ | When he is rid of them, there remain only thoughts of the Dhamma. His concentration is neither calm nor refined, it has not yet attained serenity or unity, and is kept in place by the fabrication of forceful restraint. But there comes a time when his mind grows steady inwardly, settles down, grows unified & concentrated. His concentration is calm & refined, has attained serenity & unity, and is no longer kept in place by the fabrication of forceful restraint. Then whichever of the six higher knowledges he turns his mind to know & realize, he can witness them for himself whenever there is an opening... [§§[[part2# | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Buddha: You should become attuned to that theme. Before my self-awakening, | ||
+ | |||
+ | As I was remaining heedful, ardent, & resolute, I perceived light & the vision of forms. But soon after that the light disappeared, | ||
+ | |||
+ | As I was remaining heedful, ardent, & resolute... it occurred to me, ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | As I was remaining heedful, ardent, & resolute... it occurred to me, ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | As I was remaining heedful, ardent, & resolute... it occurred to me, ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | When I knew, ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | As I was remaining heedful, ardent, & resolute, I perceived light without seeing forms, or saw forms without perceiving light for a whole day, a whole night, a whole day & night. The thought occurred to me, 'What is the cause, what is the reason...?' | ||
+ | |||
+ | As I was remaining heedful, ardent, & resolute, I perceived limited light & saw limited forms; I perceived unlimited light & saw unlimited forms for a whole day, a whole night, a whole day & night. The thought occurred to me, 'What is the cause, what is the reason...?' | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'I have abandoned those defilements of the mind. Let me develop concentration in three ways.' So [1] I developed concentration with directed thought & evaluation. I developed concentration without directed thought but with a modicum of evaluation. I developed concentration without directed thought or evaluation. [2] I developed concentration with rapture... without rapture... [3] I developed concentration accompanied by enjoyment... accompanied by equanimity. | ||
+ | |||
+ | When my concentration with directed thought & evaluation was developed, when my concentration without directed thought but with a modicum of evaluation... without directed thought or evaluation... with rapture... without rapture... accompanied by enjoyment... accompanied by equanimity was developed, then the knowledge & vision arose in me: ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | That was what the Blessed One said. Glad at heart, Ven. Anuruddha delighted in the Blessed One's words. | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | In the same way, there are cases where a monk — foolish, inexperienced, | ||
+ | |||
+ | But suppose there was a mountain cow — wise, experienced, | ||
+ | |||
+ | In the same way, there are some cases where a monk — wise, experienced, | ||
+ | |||
+ | The thought occurs to him, 'What if I, with the complete transcending of perceptions of (physical) form, with the disappearance of perceptions of resistance, and not heeding perceptions of diversity, (perceiving, | ||
+ | |||
+ | The thought occurs to him, 'What if I, with the complete transcending of the dimension of the infinitude of space, (perceiving, | ||
+ | |||
+ | The thought occurs to him, 'What if I, with the complete transcending of the dimension of the infinitude of consciousness, | ||
+ | |||
+ | The thought occurs to him, 'What if I, with the complete transcending of the dimension of nothingness, | ||
+ | |||
+ | The thought occurs to him, 'What if I, with the complete transcending of the dimension of neither perception nor non-perception, | ||
+ | |||
+ | When a monk enters & emerges from that very attainment, his mind is pliant & malleable. With his pliant, malleable mind, limitless concentration is well developed. With his concentration well developed & limitless, then whichever of the six higher knowledges he turns his mind to know & realize, he can witness them for himself whenever there is an opening. | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | When this was said, a certain monk addressed the Blessed One: '...In dependence on what are these properties discerned?' | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'The property of light is discerned in dependence on darkness. The property of beauty is discerned in dependence on the unattractive. The property of the dimension of the infinitude of space is discerned in dependence on form. The property of the dimension of the infinitude of consciousness is discerned in dependence on the dimension of the infinitude of space. The property of the dimension of nothingness is discerned in dependence on the dimension of the infinitude of consciousness. The property of the dimension of neither perception nor non-perception is discerned in dependence on the dimension of nothingness. The property of the cessation of feeling & perception is discerned in dependence on cessation.' | ||
+ | |||
+ | ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'The property of light... beauty... the dimension of the infinitude of space... the dimension of the infinitude of consciousness... the dimension of nothingness: | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ====== F. Concentration & Discernment ====== | ||
+ | <div chapter> | ||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | We noted in [[part2# | ||
+ | |||
+ | The role of <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | Evidence from the Canon supports the third position, but not the other two. As [[part2# | ||
+ | |||
+ | Part of the controversy over this question may be explained by the fact that the <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | None of these assertions have any support in the Canon. Although a practice called kasina is mentioned tangentially in some of the discourses, the only point where it is described in any detail [[en: | ||
+ | |||
+ | So it would seem that what jhāna means in the commentaries is something quite different from what it means in the Canon. Because of this difference we can say that the commentaries are right in viewing their type of jhāna as unnecessary for Awakening, but Awakening cannot occur without the attainment of jhāna in the canonical sense. | ||
+ | |||
+ | We have already given a sketch in the preceding section of how jhāna in its canonical sense can act as the basis for transcendent discernment. To recapitulate: | ||
+ | |||
+ | Jhana thus becomes an ideal test case for understanding the workings of kamma and <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | In contrast to the issue of the role of jhāna as a condition for discernment, | ||
+ | |||
+ | On the transcendent level, the discernment that precipitates Awakening results in a supramundane level of jhāna called the fruit of gnosis, which is described in [[part3# | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===== Passages from the Pali canon ===== | ||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | These four types of individuals are to be found existing in the world. Which four? | ||
+ | |||
+ | There is the case of the individual who has attained internal tranquility of awareness, but not insight into phenomena through heightened discernment. There is... the individual who has attained insight into phenomena through heightened discernment, | ||
+ | |||
+ | The individual who has attained internal tranquility of awareness, but not insight into phenomena through heightened discernment, | ||
+ | |||
+ | As for the individual who has attained insight into phenomena through heightened discernment, | ||
+ | |||
+ | As for the individual who has attained neither internal tranquility of awareness nor insight into phenomena through heightened discernment, | ||
+ | |||
+ | As for the individual who has attained both internal tranquility of awareness & insight into phenomena through heightened discernment, | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | There is the case where a monk has developed insight preceded by tranquility. As he develops insight preceded by tranquility, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Furthermore, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Furthermore, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Furthermore, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Whenever a monk or nun declares the attainment of Arahantship in my presence, they all do it by means of one or another of these four paths. | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | Ven. Sāriputta: 'My friend, when the thought occurs to you, "By means of the divine eye, purified & surpassing the human, I see the thousand-fold cosmos," | ||
+ | |||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | And what is an individual released through discernment? | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'This is stress,' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Therefore your duty is the contemplation, | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | The origination & disappearance of form... of feeling... of perception... of fabrications... of consciousness. | ||
+ | |||
+ | And what is the origination of form... of feeling... of perception... of fabrications... of consciousness? | ||
+ | |||
+ | And what is the disappearance of form... feeling... perception... fabrications... consciousness? | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div freeverse> | ||
+ | There' | ||
+ | for one with no discernment, | ||
+ | no discernment | ||
+ | for one with no jhāna. | ||
+ | But one with both jhāna | ||
+ | & discernment: | ||
+ | he's on the verge | ||
+ | of Unbinding. | ||
+ | ]! < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | Furthermore, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Furthermore, | ||
+ | |||
+ | If someone, rightly describing a person, were to say, 'He has attained mastery & perfection in noble virtue... noble concentration... noble discernment... noble release,' | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'I tell you, the ending of the effluents depends on the first jhāna.' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Staying right there, he reaches the ending of the mental effluents. Or, if not, then — through this very Dhamma-passion, | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'I tell you, the ending of the effluents depends on the first jhāna.' | ||
+ | |||
+ | [Similarly with the other levels of jhāna up through the dimension of nothingness.] | ||
+ | |||
+ | Thus, as far as the perception-attainments go, that is as far as gnosis-penetration goes. As for these two dimensions — the attainment of the dimension of neither perception nor non-perception & the attainment of the cessation of feeling & perception — I tell you that they are to be rightly explained by those monks who are meditators, skilled in attaining, skilled in attaining & emerging, who have attained & emerged in dependence on them. | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | Ven. Ānanda: Yes, householder, | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | Ven. Sāriputta: Just that is the pleasure here, my friend: where there is nothing felt. There are these five strings of sensuality. Which five? Forms cognizable via the eye — agreeable, pleasing, charming, endearing, fostering desire, enticing; sounds... smells... tastes... tactile sensations cognizable via the body — agreeable, pleasing, charming, endearing, fostering desire, enticing. Whatever pleasure or joy arises in dependence on these five strings of sensuality, that is sensual pleasure. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Now there is the case where a monk — quite secluded from sensuality, secluded from unskillful qualities — enters & remains in the first jhāna... If, as he remains there, he is beset with attention to perceptions dealing with sensuality, that is an affliction for him. <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | Furthermore, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Furthermore, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Furthermore, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Furthermore, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Furthermore, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Furthermore, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Furthermore, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Furthermore, | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | Ven. Ānanda: ...percipient... | ||
+ | |||
+ | Ven. Udāyin: ...percipient of what? | ||
+ | |||
+ | Ven. Ānanda: There is the case where with the complete transcending of perceptions of form, with the disappearance of perceptions of resistance, and not heeding perceptions of diversity, (perceiving, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Further, with the complete transcending of the dimension of the infinitude of space, (perceiving, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Further, with the complete transcending of the dimension of the infinitude of consciousness, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Once, friend, when I was staying in Sāketa at the Game Refuge in the Black Forest, the nun <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | I said to her, ' | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | In the same way, there are cases where an unbroken colt of a man, having gone to the wilderness, to the foot of a tree, or to an empty dwelling, dwells with his awareness overcome by sensual passion, obsessed with sensual passion. He does not discern the escape, as it has come to be, from sensual passion once it has arisen. Making that sensual passion the focal point, he absorbs himself with it, besorbs, resorbs, & supersorbs himself with it. | ||
+ | |||
+ | He dwells with his awareness overcome by ill will... sloth & drowsiness... restlessness & anxiety... uncertainty, | ||
+ | |||
+ | He is absorbed dependent on earth... liquid... fire... wind... the dimension of the infinitude of space... the dimension of the infinitude of consciousness... the dimension of nothingness... the dimension of neither perception nor non-perception... this world... the next world... whatever is seen, heard, sensed, cognized, attained, sought after, pondered by the intellect. That is how an unbroken colt of a man is absorbed. | ||
+ | |||
+ | And how is a thoroughbred absorbed? An excellent thoroughbred horse tied to the feeding trough, is not absorbed with the thought, ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | In the same way, an excellent thoroughbred of a man, having gone to the wilderness, to the foot of a tree, or to an empty dwelling, dwells with his awareness not overcome by sensual passion, not obsessed with sensual passion. He discerns the escape, as it has come to be, from sensual passion once it has arisen. He dwells with his awareness not overcome by ill will... sloth & drowsiness... restlessness & anxiety... uncertainty, | ||
+ | |||
+ | He is absorbed dependent neither on earth, liquid, fire, wind, the dimension of the infinitude of space, the dimension of the infinitude of consciousness, | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div freeverse> | ||
+ | ' | ||
+ | Homage to you, O superlative man — | ||
+ | you of whom we don't know even what | ||
+ | dependent on which | ||
+ | you' | ||
+ | ]! | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | Ven. Sandha: But in what way is the excellent thoroughbred of a man absorbed when he is absorbed...? | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Buddha: There is the case, Sandha, where for an excellent thorough-bred of a man the perception [mental label] of earth with regard to earth has ceased to exist; the perception of liquid with regard to liquid... the perception of fire with regard to fire... the perception of wind with regard to wind... the perception of the dimension of the infinitude of space with regard to the dimension of the infinitude of space... the perception of the dimension of the infinitude of consciousness with regard to the dimension of the infinitude of consciousness... the perception of the dimension of nothingness with regard to the dimension of nothingness... the perception of the dimension of neither perception nor non-perception with regard to the dimension of neither perception nor non-perception... the perception of this world with regard to this world... the next world with regard to the next world... and whatever is seen, heard, sensed, cognized, attained, sought after, or pondered by the intellect: the perception of that has ceased to exist. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Absorbed in this way, the excellent thoroughbred of a man is absorbed dependent neither on earth, liquid, fire, wind, the dimension of the infinitude of space, the dimension of the infinitude of consciousness, | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div freeverse> | ||
+ | ' | ||
+ | Homage to you, O superlative man — | ||
+ | you of whom we don't know even what | ||
+ | dependent on which | ||
+ | you' | ||
+ | ]! < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ====== G. Equanimity in Concentration & Discernment ====== | ||
+ | <div chapter> | ||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | We have pinpointed the fifth, reflective level of <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | The word " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Passage [[part3# | ||
+ | |||
+ | Passages [[part3# | ||
+ | |||
+ | However, the cultivation of equanimity does not stop with equanimity dependent on multiplicity. Formless jhāna, if one is able to attain it, functions as a basis for equanimity dependent on <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | After this experience, the processes of worldly experience resume due to the kammic input from the past, but one's attitude toward these processes is changed, in line with the mental fetters {[[part2# | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===== Passages from the Pali canon ===== | ||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | And what are the six kinds of household joy? The joy that arises when one regards as an acquisition the acquisition of forms cognizable by the eye — agreeable, pleasing, charming, endearing, connected with worldly baits — or when one recalls the previous acquisition of such forms after they have passed, ceased, & changed: that is called household joy. [Similarly with sounds, smells, tastes, tactile sensations, & ideas.] | ||
+ | |||
+ | And what are the six kinds of renunciation joy? The joy that arises when — experiencing the inconstancy of those very forms, their change, fading, & cessation — one sees with right discernment as it has come to be that all forms, past or present, are inconstant, stressful, subject to change: that is called renunciation joy. [Similarly with sounds, smells, tastes, tactile sensations, & ideas.] | ||
+ | |||
+ | And what are the six kinds of household distress? The distress that arises when one regards as a non-acquisition the non-acquisition of forms cognizable by the eye — agreeable, pleasing, charming, endearing, connected with worldly baits — or when one recalls the previous non-acquisition of such forms after they have passed, ceased, & changed: that is called household distress. [Similarly with sounds, smells, tastes, tactile sensations, & ideas.] | ||
+ | |||
+ | And what are the six kinds of renunciation distress? The distress coming from the longing that arises in one who is filled with longing for the unexcelled liberations when — experiencing the inconstancy of those very forms, their change, fading, & cessation — he sees with right discernment as it has come to be that all forms, past or present, are inconstant, stressful, subject to change and he is filled with this longing: 'O when will I enter & remain in the dimension that the noble ones now enter & remain in?' This is called renunciation distress. [Similarly with sounds, smells, tastes, tactile sensations, & ideas.] | ||
+ | |||
+ | And what are the six kinds of household equanimity? The equanimity that arises when a foolish, deluded person — a run-of-the-mill, | ||
+ | |||
+ | And what are the six kinds of renunciation equanimity? The equanimity that arises when — experiencing the inconstancy of those very forms, their change, fading, & cessation — one sees with right discernment as it has come to be that all forms, past or present, are inconstant, stressful, subject to change: this equanimity goes beyond form, which is why it is called renunciation equanimity. [Similarly with sounds, smells, tastes, tactile sensations, & ideas.] | ||
+ | |||
+ | ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'With regard to them, depending on this, abandon that.' Thus it was said. And in reference to what was it said? | ||
+ | |||
+ | Here, by depending & relying on the six kinds of renunciation joy, abandon & transcend the six kinds of household joy. Such is their abandoning, such is their transcending. By depending & relying on the six kinds of renunciation distress, abandon & transcend the six kinds of household distress. Such is their abandoning, such is their transcending. By depending & relying on the six kinds of renunciation equanimity, abandon & transcend the six kinds of household equanimity. Such is their abandoning, such their transcending. | ||
+ | |||
+ | By depending & relying on the six kinds of renunciation joy, abandon & transcend the six kinds of renunciation distress. Such is their abandoning, such is their transcending. By depending & relying on the six kinds of renunciation equanimity, abandon & transcend the six kinds of renunciation joy. Such is their abandoning, such their transcending. | ||
+ | |||
+ | There is equanimity coming from multiplicity, | ||
+ | |||
+ | And what is equanimity coming from multiplicity, | ||
+ | |||
+ | And what is equanimity coming from singleness, dependent on singleness? There is equanimity dependent on the dimension of the infinitude of space, equanimity dependent on the dimension of the infinitude of consciousness...the dimension of nothingness...the dimension of neither perception nor non-perception. This is equanimity coming from singleness, dependent on singleness. | ||
+ | |||
+ | By depending & relying on equanimity coming from singleness, dependent on singleness, abandon & transcend equanimity coming from multiplicity, | ||
+ | |||
+ | By depending & relying on <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'There are three frames of reference (establishings of mindfulness) that a noble one cultivates, cultivating which he is a teacher fit to instruct a group.' | ||
+ | |||
+ | There is the case where the Teacher — out of sympathy, seeking their well-being — teaches the Dhamma to his disciples: 'This is for your well-being, this is for your happiness.' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Furthermore, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Furthermore, | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'There are three frames of reference that a noble one cultivates, cultivating which he is a teacher fit to instruct a group.' | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | Develop meditation in tune with <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | Develop meditation in tune with <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | Develop meditation in tune with <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | Develop meditation in tune with <span anchor # | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | Furthermore, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Furthermore, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Furthermore, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Furthermore, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Furthermore, | ||
+ | |||
+ | And how is one a person in training, someone following the way? There is the case where, when seeing a form with the eye, there arises in a monk what is agreeable, what is disagreeable, | ||
+ | |||
+ | And how is one a noble one with developed faculties? There is the case where, when seeing a form with the eye, there arises in a monk what is agreeable, what is disagreeable, | ||
+ | |||
+ | This is how one is a noble one with developed faculties. | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | He discerns that 'If I were to direct equanimity as pure & bright as this toward the dimension of the infinitude of space and to develop the mind along those lines, that would be fabricated. [Similarly with the dimensions of the infinitude of consciousness, | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | A person of integrity notices, 'The Blessed One has spoken of <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | [Similarly with the other levels of jhāna up through the dimension of nothingness.] | ||
+ | |||
+ | A person of no integrity...enters & remains in the dimension of neither perception nor non-perception. He notices, 'I have gained the attainment of the dimension of neither perception nor non-perception, | ||
+ | |||
+ | A person of integrity notices, 'The Blessed One has spoken of non-fashioning even with regard to the attainment of the dimension of neither perception nor non-perception, | ||
+ | |||
+ | A person of integrity, completely transcending the dimension of neither perception nor non-perception, | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ====== H. Discernment: | ||
+ | <div chapter> | ||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | The texts define right view as knowledge with regard to the four noble truths. The phrase "with regard to," here (expressed by the locative case in Pali), can also mean "in terms of," and this alternative meaning is especially relevant in this case. It reflects the point that the knowledge constituting right view is not a theoretical knowledge about the truths but is a way of using the truths to categorize all of conditioned experience. Because these truths view experience in terms of function — how unskillful and skillful mental qualities play a role in the causal chain of creating suffering or bringing it to an end [DN 1; [[..: | ||
+ | |||
+ | The function of right view is to look at events in the mind in a way that gives rise to a sense of dispassion, leading the mind to a state of <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | The causal connection between passion and desire on the one hand, and stress on the other, is explained in the standard formula for <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | Because right view is the only form of view that contains the seeds of its own transcendence in this way, it is the only form of knowing that is skillful enough to lead to Awakening. The Canon gives no room for any alternative " | ||
+ | |||
+ | The steps in the functioning of right view correspond to the three stages of frames-of-reference meditation {[[part2# | ||
+ | |||
+ | It is important to note that right view functions in two time frames: small and large. Its primary frame is in the small frame, dealing exclusively with the immediate present. As it focuses on the phenomenon of origination and passing away, it reduces its terms of analysis to more and more basic levels until reaching the point where it sees even such simple categories as " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Once these insights are gained on the level of radically immediate experience, one realizes that they have implications for the larger time frame of the whole process of transmigration and one's entire experience of the cosmos as well {[[part3# | ||
+ | |||
+ | This point is illustrated in two passages [[{part2# | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'This is stress... This is the origination of stress... This is the cessation of stress... This is the way leading to the cessation of stress... These are effluents... This is the origination of effluents... This is the cessation of effluents... This is the way leading to the cessation of effluents.' | ||
+ | |||
+ | The first passage depicts the act of discernment that verifies the principles of conviction. The second passage depicts the act of discernment that confirms the fact that the five faculties, when fully developed, do lead to the Deathless {[[part2# | ||
+ | |||
+ | This repetition of the same pattern on two different frames of space and time in non-linear systems is called <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===== Passages from the Pali canon ===== | ||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | I do not envision any one other quality by which unarisen skillful qualities arise, and arisen skillful qualities go to growth & proliferation, | ||
+ | |||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | In the same way, when a person has wrong view, whatever bodily deeds he undertakes in line with that view, whatever verbal deeds...whatever mental deeds he undertakes in line with that view, whatever intentions, whatever determinations, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Just as when a sugar cane seed, a rice grain, or a grape seed is placed in moist soil, whatever nutriment it takes from the soil & the water, all conduces to its sweetness, tastiness, & unalloyed delectability. Why is that? Because of the auspicious nature of the seed. | ||
+ | |||
+ | In the same way, when a person has right view, whatever bodily deeds he undertakes in line with that view, whatever verbal deeds... whatever mental deeds he undertakes in line with that view, whatever intentions, whatever vows, whatever determinations, | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | There is the case where right view is assisted by virtue, assisted by learning, assisted by discussion, assisted by tranquility, | ||
+ | |||
+ | When assisted by these five factors, right view has awareness-release & discernment release as its fruit & reward. | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Buddha: 'By & large, Kaccāyana, this world is supported by (takes as its object) a polarity, that of existence & non-existence. But when one sees the origination of the world with right discernment as it has come to be, " | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'By & large, Kaccāyana, this world is in bondage to attachments, | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'Well, well. So you don't know entirely what views the contemplative Gotama has. Then tell us what views the monks have.' | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'I don't even know entirely what views the monks have.' | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'So you don't know entirely what views the contemplative Gotama has or even the monks have. Then tell us what views you have.' | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'It wouldn' | ||
+ | |||
+ | When this had been said, one of the wanderers said to Anāthapiṇḍika the householder, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Another wanderer said to Anāthapiṇḍika, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Another wanderer said, 'The cosmos is finite...' | ||
+ | |||
+ | When this had been said, Anāthapiṇḍika the householder said to the wanderers, 'As for the venerable one who says, "The cosmos is eternal. Only this is true; anything otherwise is worthless. This is the sort of view I have," his view arises from his own <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | When this had been said, the wanderers said to Anāthapiṇḍika the householder, | ||
+ | |||
+ | ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'So, householder, | ||
+ | |||
+ | ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | When this had been said, the wanderers fell silent, abashed, sitting with their shoulders drooping, their heads down, brooding, at a loss for words. Anāthapiṇḍika the householder, | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ====== H (i). Discernment: | ||
+ | <div chapter> | ||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | In [[part3# | ||
+ | |||
+ | Although the four noble truths constitute the most basic categories of the Buddha' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Once the problem of stress and suffering is solved, he said, there are no more problems. This is why he limited his teaching to this issue, even though his own Awakening encompassed much more {[[part3# | ||
+ | |||
+ | As [[part3# | ||
+ | |||
+ | As for the self/other dichotomy, there is the initial difficulty of determining what the self is. Any true self would have to lie totally under one's own control, and yet nothing that one might try to identify as one's self actually meets this criterion. Although the sense of self may seem intuitive enough, when carefully examined it shows itself to be based on confused perceptions and ideas. If one's basic categories for understanding experience are a cause for confusion in this way, they can lead only to confused, unskillful action, and thus to more suffering and stress. For example, when people view the source of their problems as poor relationships between themselves and others, or inadequate integration of the self, they are trying to analyze their problems in terms of categories that are ultimately uncertain. Thus there is a built-in uncertainty in the efforts they make to solve their problems in terms of those categories. | ||
+ | |||
+ | A second problem, no matter how one might define a self, is the question of how to prove whether or not it actually exists. This question entangles the mind in the unresolvable problems of the being/ | ||
+ | |||
+ | These problems explain why the Buddha regarded questions of existence and non-existence, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Stress and its cessation, on the other hand, are categories that avoid these problems. To begin with, they are immediately present and apparent. Even babies recognize stress and pain, well before they have any concept of " | ||
+ | |||
+ | As for the imperatives implicit in the four categories of the noble truths, they are very different from the imperatives implicit in the notion that there is a self or that there isn't. Stress, the first category, should be comprehended. In practice, this means admitting its presence, recognizing it as a problem, and then observing it with patient mindfulness to understand its true nature. One comes to realize that the problem is not with the stress and discomfort of external conditions, but with the stress and discomfort in the mind. One also sees how stress is part of a causal process, and that it is always accompanied by craving, its point of origination. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The second category — craving, the origination of stress — should be abandoned. Here we must note that the word " | ||
+ | |||
+ | The third category, the cessation of stress, should be realized. The definition of this truth as the abandoning of craving means that it denotes the successful performance of the duty appropriate to the second noble truth. This introduces a double tier into the practice, in that one must not only abandon craving but also realize what is happening and what is uncovered in the process of that abandoning. This, in turn, accounts for two of the major themes covered so far in this book: the switch from " | ||
+ | |||
+ | The fourth category, the way to the cessation of stress, is defined as the noble eightfold path, which we have already discussed in detail {[[part2# | ||
+ | |||
+ | Taken together, the four categories of the noble truths, along with their imperatives, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Although the texts list four separate duties appropriate to each of the truths, in actual practice these duties are four aspects of a single process. When stress is comprehended, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Passage [[part3# | ||
+ | |||
+ | This active participation corresponds to the <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | The third level of knowledge — that the duty appropriate to the truth has been completed — corresponds to the mode of "< | ||
+ | |||
+ | Thus the path is simply a refined version of the first three noble truths, in which one has taken suffering, craving, and ignorance, and turned them into tools for pleasure, detachment, and insight. Without these tools, one could not have begun the process of release. Were it not for one's attachment to jhāna and discernment, | ||
+ | |||
+ | This coalescing of the truths coincides with a movement noted earlier {[[part2# | ||
+ | |||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===== Passages from the Pali canon: ===== | ||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'The leaves in the hand of the Blessed One are few in number, lord. Those overhead in the siṃsapā forest are more numerous.' | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'In the same way, monks, those things that I have known with direct knowledge but have not taught are more numerous (than what I have taught). And why haven' | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'And what have I taught? "This is stress... This is the origination of stress... This is the cessation of stress... This is the path of practice leading to the cessation of stress." | ||
+ | |||
+ | ' | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | Birth is stress, aging is stress, death is stress; sorrow, lamentation, | ||
+ | |||
+ | And what is the cause by which stress comes into play? Craving is the cause by which stress comes into play. | ||
+ | |||
+ | And what is the diversity in stress? There is major stress & minor, slowly fading & quickly fading. This is called the diversity in stress. | ||
+ | |||
+ | And what is the result of stress? There are some cases in which a person overcome with pain, his mind exhausted, grieves, mourns, laments, beats his breast, & becomes bewildered. Or one overcome with pain, his mind exhausted, comes to search outside, 'Who knows a way or two to stop this pain?' I tell you, monks, that stress results either in bewilderment or in search. | ||
+ | |||
+ | And what is the cessation of stress? From the cessation of craving is the cessation of stress; and just this noble eightfold path is the path of practice leading to the cessation of stress: right view, right resolve, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Now when a disciple of the noble ones discerns stress in this way, the cause by which stress comes into play in this way, the diversity of stress in this way, the result of stress in this way, the cessation of stress in this way, & the path of practice leading to the cessation of stress in this way, then he discerns this penetrative holy life as the cessation of stress. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ' | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'This is stress,' | ||
+ | |||
+ | These are the four things that are real, not unreal, not other than what they seem. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Therefore your duty is the contemplation, | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | Freed from this great realm of deprivation is the individual who is consummate in his views. He discerns, as it has come to be, that 'This is stress... This is the origination of stress... This is the cessation of stress... This is the path of practice leading to the cessation of stress.' | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | When this was said, a certain monk addressed the Blessed One: 'What a great darkness, lord! What a very great darkness! Is there another darkness greater & more fearsome than that?' | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'Yes, there is...' | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'What darkness...?' | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'Any contemplatives or brahmans who do not discern, as it has come to be, that "This is stress... This is the origination of stress... This is the cessation of stress... This is the path of practice leading to the cessation of stress," | ||
+ | |||
+ | However, those contemplatives or brahmans who discern, as it has come to be, that "This is stress... This is the origination of stress... This is the cessation of stress... This is the path of practice leading to the cessation of stress," | ||
+ | |||
+ | Therefore your duty is the contemplation, | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | If the man desired his own true benefit, he would do well to take them up on their offer. Why is that? From an inconceivable beginning comes transmigration. A beginning point is not evident for the (pain of) blows from spears, swords, & axes. Even if this (offer) were to occur, I would not say that the realization of the four noble truths would be accompanied by pain & distress. Instead, I would say that the realization of the four noble truths would be accompanied by pleasure & joy. | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | Whoever sees the origination of stress also sees stress, the cessation of stress, & the path of practice leading to the cessation of stress. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Whoever sees the cessation of stress also sees stress, the origination of stress, & the path of practice leading to the cessation of stress. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Whoever sees the path of practice leading to the cessation of stress also sees stress, the origination of stress, & the cessation of stress. | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | And, monks, as long as this knowledge & vision of mine — with its three rounds & twelve permutations concerning these four noble truths as they have come to be — was not pure, I did not claim to have directly awakened to the unexcelled right self-awakening... But as soon as this knowledge & vision of mine — with its three rounds & twelve permutations concerning these four noble truths as they have come to be — was truly pure, only then did I claim to have directly awakened to the unexcelled right self-awakening... The knowledge & vision arose in me: ' | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ====== H (ii). Discernment: | ||
+ | <div chapter> | ||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | The first noble truth is that of //dukkha,// translated here as stress and suffering. The term has a wide range of other meanings as well, including distress, dis-ease, and — what is probably its most elemental meaning — pain. People learn their most basic strategies for dealing with pain in very early childhood, when their powers of observation are undeveloped and they cannot learn from the verbal lessons of others. Being in such a stage, they are in a poor position to understand pain, and it often leaves them bewildered. This means that they develop unskillful ways of handling it. Even when their minds later develop verbal and higher logical skills, many of the unskillful strategies and attitudes toward pain that they developed in early childhood persist on a subconscious level. | ||
+ | |||
+ | One of the most important insights leading up to the Buddha' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Although pain is the best vantage point for observing the processes of the mind, it is also the most difficult, simply because it is so unpleasant and hard to bear. This is why discernment needs the faculties of conviction, persistence, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Passage [[part3# | ||
+ | |||
+ | The five aggregates are form, feeling, perception, fabrications, | ||
+ | |||
+ | The five aggregates, on their own, do not constitute suffering or stress. They are stressful only when functioning as objects of clinging/ | ||
+ | |||
+ | Many of the texts explicitly liken pain to a fever or to a burning, unstable fire [[[part3# | ||
+ | |||
+ | There are four types of clinging to the aggregates that give sustenance to the processes of suffering and stress: desire and passion for | ||
+ | |||
+ | * the // | ||
+ | * //views// regarding the aggregates, | ||
+ | * //practices and precepts// involving the aggregates, and | ||
+ | * //theories about the self// involving the aggregates. | ||
+ | |||
+ | [[en: | ||
+ | |||
+ | What this interdependence means in practical terms is that one must examine the aggregates in such a way as to realize fully that they are not worth clinging to. One does this by focusing on two of their common characteristics: | ||
+ | |||
+ | Focusing further on the aggregates, one perceives the complexity of their interrelationships. Passage [[part3# | ||
+ | |||
+ | Observing and understanding the complex interrelationships among feeling, perception, and consciousness leads one into the area of <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===== Passages from the Pali canon ===== | ||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | The ear is aflame. Sounds are aflame... | ||
+ | |||
+ | The nose is aflame. Aromas are aflame... | ||
+ | |||
+ | The tongue is aflame. Flavors are aflame... | ||
+ | |||
+ | The body is aflame. Tactile sensations are aflame... | ||
+ | |||
+ | The intellect is aflame. Ideas are aflame. Intellect-consciousness is aflame. Intellect-contact is aflame. And anything that arises in dependence on intellect-contact, | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | Now what is birth? Whatever birth, taking birth, descent, coming- to-be, coming-forth, | ||
+ | |||
+ | And what is aging? Whatever aging, decrepitude, | ||
+ | |||
+ | And what is death? Whatever deceasing, passing away, breaking up, disappearance, | ||
+ | |||
+ | And what is sorrow? Whatever sorrow, sorrowing, sadness, inward sorrow, inward sadness of anyone suffering from misfortune, touched by a painful thing, that is called sorrow. | ||
+ | |||
+ | And what is lamentation? | ||
+ | |||
+ | And what is pain? Whatever is experienced as bodily pain, bodily discomfort, pain or discomfort born of bodily contact, that is called pain. | ||
+ | |||
+ | And what is distress? Whatever is experienced as mental pain, mental discomfort, pain or discomfort born of mental contact, that is called distress. | ||
+ | |||
+ | And what is despair? Whatever despair, despondency, | ||
+ | |||
+ | And what is the stress of association with the unbeloved? There is the case where undesirable, | ||
+ | |||
+ | And what is the stress of separation from the loved? There is the case where desirable, pleasing, attractive sights, sounds, aromas, flavors, or tactile sensations do not occur to one; or one has no connection, no contact, no relationship, | ||
+ | |||
+ | And what is the stress of not getting what is wanted? In beings subject to birth, the wish arises, 'O, may we not be subject to birth, and may birth not come to us.' But this is not to be achieved by wishing. This is the stress of not getting what is wanted. In beings subject to aging... illness... death... sorrow, lamentation, | ||
+ | |||
+ | And what are the five clinging-aggregates that, in short, are stress? The form clinging-aggregate, | ||
+ | |||
+ | This is called the noble truth of stress. | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | A certain monk: Is it the case that clinging and the five clinging-aggregates are the same thing, or are they separate? | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Buddha: Clinging is neither the same thing as the five clinging-aggregates, | ||
+ | |||
+ | The monk: To what extent does the term ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Buddha: Any form whatsoever — past, present, or future; internal or external; gross or subtle; inferior or superior; near or far — that is the form aggregate. Any feeling whatsoever — past, present, or future... near or far — that is the feeling aggregate. Any perception whatsoever — past, present, or future... near or far — that is the perception aggregate. Any fabrications whatsoever — past, present, or future... near or far — those are the fabrication aggregate. Any consciousness whatsoever — past, present, or future; internal or external; gross or subtle; inferior or superior; near or far — that is the consciousness aggregate. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The monk: What is the cause, what is the condition, for the discernibility [manifesting] of the form aggregate... feeling aggregate... perception aggregate... fabrication aggregate... consciousness aggregate? | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Buddha: The four great existents [the properties of earth, liquid, fire, & wind] are the cause & condition for the discernibility of the form aggregate. Contact is the cause & condition for the discernibility of the feeling... perception... fabrication aggregate. Name-& | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | And why do you call it ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | And why do you call it perception? Because it perceives, thus it is called ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | And why do you call them ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | And why do you call it ' | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | And what is the earth property? The earth property can be either internal or external. What is the internal earth property? Whatever internal, within oneself, is hard, solid, & sustained [by craving]: head hairs, body hairs, nails, teeth, skin, flesh, tendons, bones, bone marrow, kidneys, heart, liver, pleura, spleen, lungs, large intestines, small intestines, contents of the stomach, feces, or whatever else internal, within oneself, is hard, solid, & sustained: this is called the internal earth property. Now both the internal earth property and the external earth property are simply earth property. And that should be seen with right discernment as it has come to be: 'This is not mine, this is not me, this is not my self.' When one sees it thus with right discernment as it has come to be, one becomes disenchanted with the earth property and makes the earth property fade from the mind... | ||
+ | |||
+ | And what is the liquid property? The liquid property may be either internal or external. What is the internal liquid property? Whatever internal, belonging to oneself, is liquid, watery, & sustained: bile, phlegm, pus, blood, sweat, fat, tears, skin-oil, saliva, mucus, fluid in the joints, urine, or whatever else internal, within oneself, is liquid, watery, & sustained: this is called the internal liquid property. Now both the internal liquid property and the external liquid property are simply liquid property. And that should be seen with right discernment as it has come to be: 'This is not mine, this is not me, this is not my self.' When one sees it thus with right discernment as it has come to be, one becomes disenchanted with the liquid property and makes the liquid property fade from the mind... | ||
+ | |||
+ | And what is the fire property? The fire property may be either internal or external. What is the internal fire property? Whatever internal, belonging to oneself, is fire, fiery, & sustained: that by which (the body) is warmed, aged, & consumed with fever; and that by which what is eaten, drunk, chewed, & savored gets properly digested, or whatever else internal, within oneself, is fire, fiery, & sustained: this is called the internal fire property. Now both the internal fire property and the external fire property are simply fire property. And that should be seen with right discernment as it has come to be: 'This is not mine, this is not me, this is not my self.' When one sees it thus with right discernment as it has come to be, one becomes disenchanted with the fire property and makes the fire property fade from the mind... | ||
+ | |||
+ | And what is the wind property? The wind property may be either internal or external. What is the internal wind property? Whatever internal, belonging to oneself, is wind, windy, & sustained: up-going winds, down-going winds, winds in the stomach, winds in the intestines, winds that course through the body, in-& | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | There comes a time when the external liquid property is provoked and it carries away village, town & city, countryside & rural area. There comes a time when the waters of the ocean recede one hundred leagues, two hundred... seven hundred leagues. There comes a time when the water in the ocean stands only seven palm trees deep, six... one palm tree deep. There comes a time when the water in the ocean stands only seven fathoms deep, six fathoms... one fathom deep. There comes a time when the water in the ocean stands only half a fathom deep, hip deep, knee deep, ankle deep. There comes a time when the water in the ocean is not enough to wet even the joint of a finger. So when even in the external liquid property — so vast — inconstancy will be discerned... then what of this short-lasting body, sustained by clinging, is ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | There comes a time when the external fire property is provoked and consumes village, town & city, countryside & rural area, and then, coming to the edge of a green district, the edge of a road, the edge of a rocky district, to the water' | ||
+ | |||
+ | There comes a time when the external wind property is provoked, and carries off village, town & city, countryside & rural area. There comes a time when, in the last month of the hot season, they make (' | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | When consciousness arises in dependence on eye & forms, it is classified simply as eye-consciousness. | ||
+ | |||
+ | When consciousness arises in dependence on ear & sounds, it is classified simply as ear-consciousness. | ||
+ | |||
+ | When consciousness arises in dependence on nose & smells, it is classified simply as nose-consciousness. | ||
+ | |||
+ | When consciousness arises in dependence on tongue & tastes, it is classified simply as tongue-consciousness. | ||
+ | |||
+ | When consciousness arises in dependence on body & tactile sensations, it is classified simply as body-consciousness. | ||
+ | |||
+ | When consciousness arises in dependence on intellect & ideas, it is classified simply as intellect-consciousness. | ||
+ | |||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ====== H (iii). Discernment: | ||
+ | <div chapter> | ||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | As noted under [[# | ||
+ | |||
+ | Passage [[part3# | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | Craving for sensuality, here, means the desire for sensual objects. Craving for becoming means the desire for the formation of states or realms of being that are not currently happening, while craving for non-becoming means the desire for the destruction or halting of any that are. " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Passage [[part3# | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | The extended passages that make up the remainder of [[part3# | ||
+ | |||
+ | The longer definitions of the second and third noble truths center on <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | Nevertheless, | ||
+ | |||
+ | A few general points about dependent co-arising are important to understand before going into the details. To begin with, dependent co-arising is often presented in the texts as an expansion of the general principle of <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | -- When this is, that is. | ||
+ | -- From the arising of this comes the arising of that. | ||
+ | -- When this isn't, that isn't. | ||
+ | -- From the stopping of this comes the stopping of that. | ||
+ | |||
+ | This formula is <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | Because new input into the causal stream is possible at every moment, the actual working out of this/that conditionality and dependent co-arising can be remarkably fluid and complex. This point is borne out by the imagery used in the Canon to illustrate these teachings. <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | The fluid complexity of dependent co-arising means that it is inherently unstable, and thus stressful and not-self. Although some non-Theravadin Buddhist texts insist that happiness can be found by abandoning one's smaller, separate identity and embracing the interconnected identity of all interdependent things, this teaching cannot be found in the Pali Canon. The instability of conditioned processes means that they can never provide a dependable basis for happiness. The only true basis for happiness is the <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | These factors come down to the five aggregates. In fact, the entire pattern of dependent co-arising is a map showing how the different aggregates group, disband, and regroup in one another' | ||
+ | |||
+ | It is important to remember, though, that <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | Given the fluid, complex nature of the basic causal principle, it should come as no surprise that the Canon contains several variations on the list of basic factors and configurations in dependent co-arising. Like the seven sets in the Wings to Awakening, these different lists offer the meditator a variety of ways to approach the complexities of the causal stream and to gain a handle on mastering them. The most basic list is found in [[part3# | ||
+ | |||
+ | //Aging and death require birth (i.e., rebirth).// If there were no birth, there would be nothing to set in motion the processes of aging and death. Here and in the following causal links, " | ||
+ | |||
+ | //Birth depends on becoming.// If there were no coming-into-being of a sensual realm, a realm of form, or a formless realm, there would be no locus for rebirth. Again, these realms refer not only to levels of being on the cosmic scale, but also to levels of mental states. Some mental states are concerned with sensual images, others with forms (such as form jhāna), and still others with formless dimensions, such as the formless jhanas. The relationship between birth and becoming can be compared to the process of falling asleep and dreaming. As drowsiness makes the mind lose contact with waking reality, a dream image of another place and time will appear in it. The appearance of this image is called becoming. The act of entering into this image and taking on a role or identity within it — and thus entering the world of the dream and falling asleep — is birth. The <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | //Becoming requires clinging/ | ||
+ | |||
+ | // | ||
+ | |||
+ | //Craving requires feeling.// If there were no experience of pleasant, painful, or neither-pleasant-nor-painful feelings, one would not thirst for continuing experience of the pleasant or for cessation of the unpleasant. | ||
+ | |||
+ | //Feeling requires contact.// Without contact there would be no feelings of pleasure, pain, or neither-pleasure-nor-pain. | ||
+ | |||
+ | //Contact requires <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | // | ||
+ | |||
+ | // | ||
+ | |||
+ | In [[part3# | ||
+ | |||
+ | Other lists of the factors in <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | Another point of disagreement is over the question of how the factors of fabrication and ignorance came to be added to the basic list. Some scholars maintain that this was the result of a temporal development in the Buddha' | ||
+ | |||
+ | It may seem redundant to have the factors of name-and-form on the one hand, and fabrications on the other, covering the same territory in two different configurations, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Passage [[part3# | ||
+ | |||
+ | The self-sustaining nature of dependent co-arising makes it easy to see why <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | Some of the feedback loops that make stress so complex are explicitly mentioned in the texts {[[part3# | ||
+ | |||
+ | This shows that these feedback loops, instead of being a mere curiosity in the formal structure of dependent co-arising, actually help to explain the wide variations in the way living beings experience stress. They also help explain the possibility of the cessation of stress. The elements of contact, intention, and attention under the factor of " | ||
+ | |||
+ | In feeding the loops of dependent co-arising through the factor of name-and-form, | ||
+ | |||
+ | To express this in terms of the four noble truths, it takes the aggregates that make up the first noble truth and gives them a role in the fourth {[[# | ||
+ | |||
+ | As the process of <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | In other words, the boundary line between the different tiers of mental activity begins to break down. This allows for the conflation of discernment and concentration noted in [[part2# | ||
+ | |||
+ | Another crucial point to note in understanding how to <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | This fact is what opens the way for appropriate attention to bring about the end of suffering and stress. At the same time it determines precisely what that way must be. An analysis of how this happens will reveal in a nutshell the convergence of many of the themes of this book: the role of the three levels of frames-of-reference practice {[[part2# | ||
+ | |||
+ | //The nutshell is this:// If each factor in dependent co-arising were a sufficient cause for the following factor, the pattern would be absolutely deterministic and there would be no way out. However, in cases where the link between //x// and //y// is necessary but not sufficient, then in terms of this/that conditionality, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Modern practice traditions differ as to which links in dependent co-arising they focus on in order to bring about the cessation of craving and thus realize the third noble truth. For the purposes of this essay, we will discuss three of these links as they relate to the three different lists of factors mentioned above. These different points of focus are best regarded as alternative options for tackling the problem of stress and its cessation. All are equally valid, and so it is up to the individual meditator to choose whichever focus seems most congenial and comprehensible, | ||
+ | |||
+ | The first list of the factors of dependent co-arising, which takes the process down to the <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | As for the second list, which traces the pattern of dependent co-arising down to fabrication and ignorance, we have already noted that this is simply an explanation of a particular type of relationship between consciousness and name-and-form. We have also noted {[[# | ||
+ | |||
+ | In the third list of dependent co-arising, which traces the pattern to the mutual dependence of ignorance and the effluents, the focus is on the acts of clinging/ | ||
+ | |||
+ | Although these three points of focus differ in emphasis, in essence they come down to different aspects of the same approach. In every case, one must use skillful intentions and appropriate attention to undercut craving and ignorance regarding the five aggregates so that no fabrications will be activated for the sake of further becoming. This lack of activation — the moment of non-fashioning — releases consciousness from the aggregates, both in their role as objects of consciousness and in their role as the intention and attention that served as the approaches to release. The differences among the points of focus lie primarily in the questions they ask in framing a view of the problem at hand. | ||
+ | |||
+ | In this we see the <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | Once consciousness is released from the objects that bring sensory consciousness into play {[[part3# | ||
+ | |||
+ | There is some question as to whether the goal can be equated with the third noble truth. Some passages in the Canon [SN 43:1-44; [[en: | ||
+ | |||
+ | From the time of Awakening to that of death, there remains a sense of dissociated contact between the inner and outer sense media that comprise the Awakened One's old kamma {[[part1# | ||
+ | |||
+ | The texts liken this state to a fire that has gone out but whose embers are still glowing and warm [Thag 15:2; [[..: | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===== Passages from the Pali canon ===== | ||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | **<span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div freeverse> | ||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | undamaged & strong, | ||
+ | a tree, even if cut, | ||
+ | will grow back. | ||
+ | So too when latent craving | ||
+ | is not rooted out, | ||
+ | this suffering returns | ||
+ | again | ||
+ | & | ||
+ | again.]! < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Buddha: If I were to teach you the origination & ending of stress with reference to the past, saying, 'Thus it was in the past,' you would be <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | Gandhabhaka: | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Buddha: Now, what do you think? Are there any people in Uruvelakappa who, if they were murdered or imprisoned or fined or censured, would cause sorrow, lamentation, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Gandhabhaka: | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Buddha: And are there any people in Uruvelakappa who, if they were murdered or imprisoned or fined or censured, would cause no sorrow, lamentation, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Gandhabhaka: | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Buddha: Now what is the cause, what is the reason, why the murder... of some would cause you sorrow... and the murder... of others would cause you no sorrow...? | ||
+ | |||
+ | Gandhabhaka: | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Buddha: Now, from what you have realized, attained, fathomed right now in the present, without regard to time, you may draw an inference with regard to the past and future: ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Gandhabhaka: | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Buddha: Now, what do you think? If Cīravāsin were to be murdered or imprisoned or fined or censured, would you feel sorrow, lamentation, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Gandhabhaka: | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Buddha: ...And what do you think? Before you had seen or heard of Cīravāsin' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Gandhabhaka: | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Buddha: And after you had seen or heard of Cīravāsin' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Gandhabhaka: | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Buddha: Now, what do you think? If Cīravāsin' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Gandhabhaka: | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Buddha: Thus by this line of reasoning it may be realized how stress, when arising, arises: All of it has desire as its root, has desire as its cause — for desire is the cause of stress. | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | And where does this craving, when arising, arise? And where, when dwelling, does it dwell? Whatever seems endearing and agreeable in terms of the world: that is where this craving, when arising, arises. That is where, when dwelling, it dwells. | ||
+ | |||
+ | And what seems endearing and agreeable in terms of the world? The eye seems endearing and agreeable in terms of the world. That is where this craving, when arising, arises. That is where, when dwelling, it dwells. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The ear... The nose... The tongue... The body... The intellect... | ||
+ | |||
+ | Forms... Sounds... Smells... Tastes... Tactile sensations... Ideas... | ||
+ | |||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | Eye-contact... Ear-contact... Nose-contact... Tongue-contact... Body-contact... Intellect-contact... | ||
+ | |||
+ | Feeling born of eye-contact... Feeling born of ear-contact... Feeling born of nose-contact... Feeling born of tongue-contact... Feeling born of body-contact... Feeling born of intellect-contact... | ||
+ | |||
+ | Perception of forms... Perception of sounds... Perception of smells... | ||
+ | |||
+ | Intention for forms... Intention for sounds... Intention for smells... Intention for tastes... Intention for tactile sensations... Intention for ideas... | ||
+ | |||
+ | Craving for forms... Craving for sounds... Craving for smells... Craving for tastes... Craving for tactile sensations... Craving for ideas... | ||
+ | |||
+ | Thought directed at forms... Thought directed at sounds... Thought directed at smells... Thought directed at tastes... Thought directed at tactile sensations... Thought directed at ideas... | ||
+ | |||
+ | Evaluation of forms... Evaluation of sounds... Evaluation of smells... | ||
+ | |||
+ | This is called the noble truth of the origination of stress. | ||
+ | |||
+ | And what is the noble truth of the cessation of stress? The remainderless fading & cessation, renunciation, | ||
+ | |||
+ | And where, when being abandoned, is this craving abandoned? And where, when ceasing, does it cease? Whatever seems endearing and agreeable in terms of the world: that is where, when being abandoned, this craving is abandoned. That is where, when ceasing, it ceases. | ||
+ | |||
+ | And what seems endearing and agreeable in terms of the world? The eye seems endearing and agreeable in terms of the world. That is where, when being abandoned, this craving is abandoned. That is where, when ceasing, it ceases. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The ear... The nose... The tongue... The body... The intellect... | ||
+ | |||
+ | Forms... Sounds... Smells... Tastes... Tactile sensations... Ideas... | ||
+ | |||
+ | Eye-consciousness... Ear-consciousness... Nose-consciousness... Tongue-consciousness... Body-consciousness... Intellect-consciousness... | ||
+ | |||
+ | Eye-contact... Ear-contact... Nose-contact... Tongue-contact... Body-contact... Intellect-contact... | ||
+ | |||
+ | Feeling born of eye-contact... Feeling born of ear-contact... Feeling born of nose-contact... Feeling born of tongue-contact... Feeling born of body-contact... Feeling born of intellect-contact... | ||
+ | |||
+ | Perception of forms... Perception of sounds... Perception of smells... | ||
+ | |||
+ | Intention for forms... Intention for sounds... Intention for smells... Intention for tastes... Intention for tactile sensations... Intention for ideas... | ||
+ | |||
+ | Craving for forms... Craving for sounds... Craving for smells... Craving for tastes... Craving for tactile sensations... Craving for ideas... | ||
+ | |||
+ | Thought directed at forms... Thought directed at sounds... Thought directed at smells... Thought directed at tastes... Thought directed at tactile sensations... Thought directed at ideas... | ||
+ | |||
+ | Evaluation of forms... Evaluation of sounds... Evaluation of smells... Evaluation of tastes... Evaluation of tactile sensations... Evaluation of ideas seems endearing and agreeable in terms of the world. That is where, when being abandoned, this craving is abandoned. That is where, when ceasing, it ceases. | ||
+ | |||
+ | This is called the noble truth of the cessation of stress. | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | //When this is, that is.\\ | ||
+ | From the arising of this comes the arising of that.\\ | ||
+ | When this isn't, that isn' | ||
+ | From the cessation of this comes the cessation of that.//\\ | ||
+ | |||
+ | In other words: | ||
+ | |||
+ | From ignorance as a requisite condition come fabrications. | ||
+ | |||
+ | From fabrications as a requisite condition comes consciousness. | ||
+ | |||
+ | From consciousness as a requisite condition comes name-& | ||
+ | |||
+ | From name-& | ||
+ | |||
+ | From the six sense media as a requisite condition comes contact. | ||
+ | |||
+ | From contact as a requisite condition comes feeling. | ||
+ | |||
+ | From feeling as a requisite condition comes craving. | ||
+ | |||
+ | From craving as a requisite condition comes clinging/ | ||
+ | |||
+ | From clinging/ | ||
+ | |||
+ | From becoming as a requisite condition comes birth. | ||
+ | |||
+ | From birth as a requisite condition, then aging-& | ||
+ | |||
+ | Now from the remainderless fading & cessation of that very ignorance comes the cessation of fabrications. From the cessation of fabrications comes the cessation of consciousness. From the cessation of consciousness comes the cessation of name-& | ||
+ | |||
+ | This is the noble method that is rightly seen & rightly ferreted out by discernment. | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | What is the origination of the world? In dependence on the eye & forms there arises eye-consciousness. The coming together of these three is contact. From contact as a requisite condition comes feeling. From feeling as a requisite condition comes craving. From craving as a requisite condition comes clinging/ | ||
+ | |||
+ | And what is the disappearance of the world? In dependence on the eye & forms there arises eye-consciousness. The coming together of these three is contact. From contact as a requisite condition comes feeling. From feeling as a requisite condition comes craving. Now from the remainderless fading & cessation of that very craving comes the cessation of clinging/ | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Buddha: It disintegrates // | ||
+ | |||
+ | The ear disintegrates. Sounds disintegrate... | ||
+ | |||
+ | The nose disintegrates. Aromas disintegrate... | ||
+ | |||
+ | The tongue disintegrates. Flavors disintegrate... | ||
+ | |||
+ | The body disintegrates. Tactile sensations disintegrate... | ||
+ | |||
+ | The intellect disintegrates. Ideas disintegrate. Intellect-consciousness disintegrates. Intellect-contact disintegrates. And anything that arises in dependence on intellect-contact, | ||
+ | |||
+ | It disintegrates, | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | That by means of which one has a perception of world, a concept of world with regard to the world: That, in the discipline of a noble one, is called the ' | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | And what is aging-& | ||
+ | |||
+ | Now, when the disciple of the noble ones discerns aging-& | ||
+ | |||
+ | Now, when these two knowledges of the disciple of the noble ones — knowledge of principle & knowledge of consistency — are pure & clear, he is called a disciple of the noble ones who is consummate in view, consummate in vision, attained to this true Dhamma. He is said to see this true Dhamma, to be endowed with the knowledge of one in training, endowed with the clear knowing of one in training, attained to the stream of the Dhamma, a person of penetrating noble discernment who stands knocking at the door to the Deathless. | ||
+ | |||
+ | [Similarly with the remaining links down to fabrications.] | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | Now, what is dependent co-arising? From birth as a requisite condition comes aging-& | ||
+ | |||
+ | [Similarly down through the causal sequence to:] | ||
+ | |||
+ | From ignorance as a requisite condition come fabrications. Whether or not there is the arising of Tathāgatas, | ||
+ | |||
+ | And what are dependently co-arisen phenomena? Aging-& | ||
+ | |||
+ | Ignorance is a dependently co-arisen phenomenon: inconstant, fabricated, dependently co-arisen, subject to ending, subject to passing away, subject to fading, subject to cessation. These are called dependently co-arisen phenomena. | ||
+ | |||
+ | When a disciple of the noble ones has seen well with right discernment this dependent co-arising & these dependently co-arisen phenomena as they have come to be, it is not possible that he would run after the past, thinking, 'Was I in the past? Was I not in the past? What was I in the past? How was I in the past? Having been what, what was I in the past?' or that he would run after the future, thinking, 'Shall I be in the future? Shall I not be in the future? What shall I be in the future? How shall I be in the future? Having been what, what shall I be in the future?' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Such a thing is not possible. Why is that? Because the disciple of the noble ones has seen well with right discernment this dependent co-arising & these dependently co-arisen phenomena as they have come to be. | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | And what is clinging/ | ||
+ | |||
+ | And what is craving? These six are classes of craving: craving for forms, craving for sounds, craving for smells, craving for tastes, craving for tactile sensations, craving for ideas. This is called craving. | ||
+ | |||
+ | And what is feeling? These six are classes of feeling: feeling born from eye-contact, | ||
+ | |||
+ | And what is contact? These six are classes of contact: eye-contact, | ||
+ | |||
+ | And what are the six sense media? These six are sense media: the eye-medium, the ear-medium, the nose-medium, | ||
+ | |||
+ | And what is name-& | ||
+ | |||
+ | And what is <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | And what are fabrications? | ||
+ | |||
+ | And what is ignorance? Not knowing in terms of stress, not knowing in terms of the origination of stress, not knowing in terms of the cessation of stress, not knowing in terms of the way of practice leading to the cessation of stress: this is called ignorance. | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | In the wise person that ignorance has been abandoned and that craving has been destroyed. Why is that? The wise person has practiced the holy life for the right ending of stress. Therefore, at the breakup of the body, he is not headed for a (new) body. Not headed for a body, he is entirely freed from birth, aging, death, sorrow, lamentation, | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Buddha: If there were no kamma ripening in the property of sensuality, would sensual becoming be discerned? | ||
+ | |||
+ | Ānanda: No, lord. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Buddha: Thus kamma is the field, consciousness the seed, and craving the moisture {[[part3# | ||
+ | |||
+ | Ānanda: No, lord. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Buddha: Thus kamma is the <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | Ānanda: No, lord. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Buddha: Thus kamma is the field, consciousness the seed, and craving the moisture. The consciousness of living beings hindered by ignorance & fettered by craving is established in (tuned to) a refined property. Thus there is the production of renewed becoming in the future. This is how there is becoming. | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | [The discourse immediately following this is identical to this except that the phrase, 'the consciousness of living beings... is established,' | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div freeverse> | ||
+ | This world is burning. | ||
+ | Afflicted by contact, | ||
+ | it calls disease a ' | ||
+ | for by whatever means it construes (anything), | ||
+ | that becomes otherwise from that.{[[# | ||
+ | Becoming otherwise, | ||
+ | the world is | ||
+ | held by becoming | ||
+ | afflicted by becoming | ||
+ | and yet delights | ||
+ | in that very becoming. | ||
+ | Where there' | ||
+ | there is fear. | ||
+ | What one fears | ||
+ | is stressful. | ||
+ | This holy life is lived | ||
+ | for the abandoning of becoming. | ||
+ | ]! | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | Whatever contemplatives or brahmans say that liberation from becoming is by means of becoming, all of them are not released from becoming, I say. | ||
+ | |||
+ | And whatever contemplatives or brahmans say that escape from becoming is by means of non-becoming, | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div freeverse> | ||
+ | This stress comes into play | ||
+ | in dependence on acquisitions. | ||
+ | With the ending of all clinging/ | ||
+ | there is no stress | ||
+ | coming into play. | ||
+ | Look at this world: | ||
+ | Beings, afflicted with thick ignorance, | ||
+ | are unreleased | ||
+ | from delight in what has come to be. | ||
+ | All levels of becoming, | ||
+ | anywhere, | ||
+ | in any way, | ||
+ | are inconstant, stressful, subject to change. | ||
+ | Seeing this — as it actually is present — | ||
+ | with right discernment, | ||
+ | one abandons craving for becoming, | ||
+ | without delighting in non-becoming. | ||
+ | From the total ending of craving | ||
+ | comes fading & cessation without remainder: | ||
+ | Unbinding. | ||
+ | |||
+ | For the monk unbound, | ||
+ | from lack of clinging/ | ||
+ | there is no further becoming. | ||
+ | He has conquered <span anchor # | ||
+ | won the battle, | ||
+ | gone beyond all becomings — | ||
+ | Such.]! < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | And how do some adhere? Human & divine beings delight in becoming, enjoy becoming, are satisfied with becoming. When the Dhamma is being taught for the sake of the cessation of becoming, their minds do not take to it, are not calmed by it, do not settle on it, or become resolved on it. This is how some adhere. | ||
+ | |||
+ | And how do some slip right past? Some, feeling horrified, humiliated, & disgusted with that very becoming, delight in non-becoming: | ||
+ | |||
+ | And how do those with vision see? There is the case where a monk sees what's come to be as what's come to be. Seeing this, he practices for disenchantment with what's come to be, dispassion for what's come to be, and the cessation of what's come to be. This is how those with vision see... | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div freeverse> | ||
+ | Those, having seen | ||
+ | what' | ||
+ | as what's come to be, | ||
+ | and what's gone beyond | ||
+ | what' | ||
+ | are released in line | ||
+ | with what's come to be, | ||
+ | through the exhaustion of craving for becoming. | ||
+ | If they' | ||
+ | and are free from the craving | ||
+ | for becoming & not-, | ||
+ | with the non-becoming | ||
+ | of what's come to be — | ||
+ | monks come to no further becoming. | ||
+ | ]! < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | From ignorance as a requisite condition, then either of one's own accord one fabricates the bodily fabrication on account of which that pleasure & pain arise internally, or because of others one fabricates the bodily fabrication on account of which that pleasure & pain arise internally. With alertness... or without alertness one fabricates the bodily fabrication on account of which that pleasure & pain arise internally. [Similarly with verbal & intellectual fabrications.] | ||
+ | |||
+ | Now, ignorance is bound up in these things. From the remainderless fading & cessation of that very ignorance, there no longer exists (the sense of) the body... the speech... the intellect on account of which that pleasure & pain internally arise. There no longer exists the field, the site, the dimension, or the issue on account of which that pleasure & pain internally arise. | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | Sensing a feeling of pleasure, he discerns that it is fleeting, not grasped at, not relished. Sensing a feeling of pain... Sensing a feeling of neither-pleasure-nor-pain, | ||
+ | |||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | What do you think, monks? Would a monk whose effluents were ended fabricate a meritorious or a demeritorious or an imperturbable fabrication? | ||
+ | |||
+ | No, lord. | ||
+ | |||
+ | With the total non-existence of fabrications, | ||
+ | |||
+ | No, lord. | ||
+ | |||
+ | [And similarly down to:] With the total non-existence of birth, from the cessation of birth, would aging-& | ||
+ | |||
+ | No, lord. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Very good, monks. Just so should you construe it. Just so should you be convinced. Just so should you believe. <span anchor # | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | If nothing is willed, if nothing is arranged, but something is obsessed over: This is a support for the stationing of consciousness... Such (too) is the origination of this entire mass of stress. | ||
+ | |||
+ | But when nothing is willed, arranged, or obsessed over, there is no support for the stationing of consciousness. There being no support, there is no landing of consciousness. When that consciousness does not land & grow, there is no production of renewed becoming in the future. When there is no production of renewed becoming in the future, there is no future birth, aging-& | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | Not knowing in terms of stress, not knowing in terms of the origination of stress, not knowing in terms of the cessation of stress, not knowing in terms of the way of practice leading to the cessation of stress: this is called ignorance. From the origination of effluents comes the origination of ignorance. From the cessation of effluents comes the cessation of ignorance. And just this noble eightfold path is the way of practice leading to the cessation of ignorance... | ||
+ | |||
+ | Now when a disciple of the noble ones discerns ignorance in this way, discerns the origination of ignorance in this way, discerns the cessation of ignorance in this way, & discerns the way of practice leading to the cessation of ignorance in this way, when — having entirely abandoned passion-obsession, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Now what are effluents, what is the origination of effluents, what is the cessation of effluents, and what is the way of practice leading to the cessation of effluents? | ||
+ | |||
+ | These three are effluents: the effluent of sensuality, the effluent of becoming, the effluent of ignorance. From the origination of ignorance comes the origination of effluents. From the cessation of ignorance comes the cessation of effluents. And just this noble eightfold path is the way of practice leading to the cessation of effluents... | ||
+ | |||
+ | Now when a disciple of the noble ones discerns the effluents in this way, discerns the origination of effluents in this way, discerns the cessation of effluents in this way, & discerns the way of practice leading to the cessation of effluents in this way, when — having entirely abandoned passion-obsession, | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | [Similarly with birth, becoming, sustenance/ | ||
+ | |||
+ | Ven. Mahā Koṭṭhita: | ||
+ | |||
+ | Ven. Sāriputta: It's not the case that name-& | ||
+ | |||
+ | Ven. Mahā Koṭṭhita: | ||
+ | |||
+ | Ven. Sāriputta: It's not the case that consciousness is self-made, that it is other-made, that it is both self-made & other-made, or that — without self-making or other-making — it's spontaneously arisen. However, from name-& | ||
+ | |||
+ | Ven. Mahā Koṭṭhita: | ||
+ | |||
+ | Ven. Sāriputta: Very well then, my friend, I will give you an analogy; for there are cases where it is through the use of an analogy that intelligent people can understand the meaning of what is being said. <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | If one were to pull away one of those sheaves of reeds, the other would fall; if one were to pull away the other, the first one would fall. In the same way, from the cessation of name-& | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div freeverse> | ||
+ | People are intent on the idea of | ||
+ | 'made by me' | ||
+ | and attached to the idea of | ||
+ | 'made by another.' | ||
+ | Some do not realize this, | ||
+ | nor do they see it as a thorn. | ||
+ | But to one who sees, | ||
+ | having extracted this thorn, | ||
+ | (the thought) 'I am doing,' | ||
+ | ' | ||
+ | This human race is possessed by conceit, | ||
+ | bound by conceit, | ||
+ | tied down by conceit. | ||
+ | Speaking hurtfully because of their views | ||
+ | they do not go beyond wandering-on. | ||
+ | ]! < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | When this was said, a certain monk said to the Blessed One: 'Which aging-& | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'Not a valid question,' | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'Which birth, lord? And whose is this birth?' | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'Not a valid question,' | ||
+ | |||
+ | [Similarly with all the requisite conditions down to fabrications.] | ||
+ | |||
+ | ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | [Similarly with all the requisite conditions down to fabrications.] | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Buddha: Don't say that, Ānanda. Don't say that. Deep is this dependent co-arising, and deep its appearance. It's because of not understanding & not penetrating this Dhamma that this generation is like a tangled skein, a knotted ball of string, like matted rushes & reeds, and does not go beyond the cycle of the planes of deprivation, | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'From birth as a requisite condition comes aging-& | ||
+ | |||
+ | Ven. Ānanda: No, lord. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Buddha: Thus this is a cause, this is a reason, this is an origination, | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'From name-& | ||
+ | |||
+ | Ven. Ānanda: No, lord. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Buddha: If the permutations, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Ven. Ānanda: No, lord. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Buddha: If the permutations, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Ven. Ānanda: No, lord. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Buddha: Thus this is a cause, this is a reason, this is an origination, | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'From consciousness as a requisite condition comes name-& | ||
+ | |||
+ | Ven. Ānanda: No, lord. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Buddha: If, after descending into the womb, consciousness were to depart, would name-& | ||
+ | |||
+ | Ven. Ānanda: No, lord. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Buddha: If the consciousness of the young boy or girl were to be cut off, would name-& | ||
+ | |||
+ | Ven. Ānanda: No, lord. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Buddha: Thus this is a cause, this is a reason, this is an origination, | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'From name-& | ||
+ | |||
+ | Ven. Ānanda: No, lord. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Buddha: Thus this is a cause, this is a reason, this is an origination, | ||
+ | |||
+ | This is the extent to which there is birth, aging, death, passing away, & re-arising. This is the extent to which there are means of designation, | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | If a monk abandons passion for the property of form... feeling... perception... fabrications... consciousness, | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'Where there is passion, delight, & craving for the nutriment of physical food, consciousness lands there and grows. Where consciousness lands and grows, name-& | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'Just as — when there is dye, lac, yellow orpiment, indigo, or crimson — a dyer or painter would paint the <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | [Similarly with the other three kinds of nutriment.] | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'Where there is no passion for the nutriment of physical food, where there is no delight, no craving, then consciousness does not land there or grow... Name-& | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'Just as if there were a roofed <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'On the western wall, lord.' | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'And if there is no western wall...?' | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'On the ground, lord.' | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'And if there is no ground...?' | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'On the water, lord.' | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'And if there is no water...?' | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'It does not land, lord.' | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'In the same way, where there is no passion for the nutriment of physical food...consciousness does not land or grow... That, I tell you, has no sorrow, affliction, or despair.' | ||
+ | |||
+ | [Similarly with the other three kinds of nutriment.] | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div freeverse> | ||
+ | Consciousness without feature, | ||
+ | without end, | ||
+ | luminous all around: | ||
+ | Here water, earth, fire, & wind have no footing. | ||
+ | Here long & short | ||
+ | coarse & fine | ||
+ | fair & foul | ||
+ | name & form | ||
+ | are, without remnant, | ||
+ | brought to an end. | ||
+ | of (the activity of) consciousness, | ||
+ | each is here brought to an end. | ||
+ | ]! < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div freeverse> | ||
+ | Where water, earth, fire, & wind | ||
+ | have no footing: | ||
+ | There the stars do not shine, | ||
+ | the sun is not visible, | ||
+ | the moon does not appear, | ||
+ | darkness is not found. | ||
+ | And when a sage, an honorable one, | ||
+ | through sagacity | ||
+ | has known [this] for himself, | ||
+ | then from form & formless, | ||
+ | from pleasure & pain, | ||
+ | he is freed. | ||
+ | ]! < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | Then this train of thought appeared in the awareness of one of the monks: 'Now I wonder — knowing in what way, seeing in what way, does one without delay put an end to the effluents?' | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Blessed One, perceiving with his awareness the train of thought in the monk's awareness, said to the monks, 'I have analyzed & taught you the Dhamma, monks. I have analyzed & taught you the four frames of reference, the four right exertions, the four bases of power, the five faculties, the five strengths, the seven factors for Awakening, & the noble eightfold path... And yet still there appears this train of thought in the awareness of one of the monks: "Now I wonder — knowing in what way, seeing in what way, does one without delay put an end to the effluents?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'Well then — knowing in what way, seeing in what way, does one without delay put an end to the effluents? There is the case where an uninstructed, | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'Or he doesn' | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'Now that assumption is a fabrication. What is the cause... of that fabrication? | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'Or... he may have a view such as this: "This self is the same as the cosmos. This I will be after death, constant, lasting, eternal, not subject to change." | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'What is the cause... of that fabrication? | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | The knowledge of ending in the presence of ending has its prerequisite, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Just as when the devas pour <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div freeverse> | ||
+ | fabrications have ignorance as their prerequisite, | ||
+ | consciousness has fabrications as its prerequisite, | ||
+ | name-& | ||
+ | the six sense media have name-& | ||
+ | contact has the six sense media as its prerequisite, | ||
+ | feeling has contact as its prerequisite, | ||
+ | craving has feeling as its prerequisite, | ||
+ | clinging has craving as its prerequisite, | ||
+ | becoming has clinging as its prerequisite, | ||
+ | birth has becoming as its prerequisite, | ||
+ | stress & suffering have birth as their prerequisite, | ||
+ | conviction has stress & suffering as its prerequisite, | ||
+ | joy has conviction as its prerequisite, | ||
+ | rapture has joy as its prerequisite, | ||
+ | serenity has rapture as its prerequisite, | ||
+ | pleasure has serenity as its prerequisite, | ||
+ | concentration has pleasure as its prerequisite, | ||
+ | knowledge & vision of things as they actually are present has concentration as its prerequisite, | ||
+ | disenchantment has knowledge & vision of things as they actually are present as its prerequisite, | ||
+ | dispassion has disenchantment as its prerequisite, | ||
+ | release has dispassion as its prerequisite, | ||
+ | knowledge of ending has release as its prerequisite. | ||
+ | ]! < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ====== H (iv). Discernment: | ||
+ | <div chapter> | ||
+ | <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | Then the thought occurred to me, ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Then the thought occurred to me, 'This consciousness turns back at name-& | ||
+ | |||
+ | Then the thought occurred to me, ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | The thought occurred to me, 'I have attained this path to Awakening, i.e., from the cessation of name-& | ||
+ | |||
+ | It's just as if a man, traveling along a wilderness track, were to see an <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | In the same way I saw an ancient path, an ancient road, traveled by the Rightly Self-awakened Ones of former times. And what is that ancient path...? Just this noble eightfold path: right view, right resolve, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, | ||
+ | |||
+ | Following it, I came to direct knowledge of fabrications, | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div excerpt> | ||
+ | |||
+ | So he went to the Mallan Sal Tree grove, to <span anchor # | ||
+ | |||
+ | When this was said, Ven. Ānanda said to him, ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | For a second time... For a third time, Subhadda the wanderer said to Ven. Ānanda, '... It would be good, Master Ānanda, if I could get to see him.' | ||
+ | |||
+ | For a third time, Ven. Ānanda said to him, ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Now, the Blessed One heard the exchange between Ven. Ānanda & Subhadda the wanderer, and so he said to Ven. Ānanda, ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | So Ven. Ānanda said to Subhadda the wanderer, 'Go ahead, friend Subhadda. The Blessed One gives you his leave.' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Then Subhadda went to the Blessed One and, on arrival, exchanged courteous greetings with him. After an exchange of friendly greetings & courtesies, he sat to one side. As he was sitting there, he said to the Blessed One, ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'As you say, lord,' Subhadda responded, and the Blessed One said, 'In any doctrine & discipline where the noble eightfold path is not ascertained, | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div freeverse> | ||
+ | At age twenty-nine I went forth, | ||
+ | seeking what might be skillful, | ||
+ | and since my going forth | ||
+ | more than fifty years have passed. | ||
+ | Outside of the realm | ||
+ | of methodical Dhamma, | ||
+ | there is no contemplative. | ||
+ | ]! | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | And no contemplative of the second... third... fourth order. Other teachings are empty of knowledgeable contemplatives. And if the monks dwell rightly, this world will not be empty of Arahants.' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Then Subhadda the wanderer said, ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | ' | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'Lord, if that is so, I am willing to undergo probation for four years. If, at the end of four years, the monks are pleased, let them give me the going forth & admit me to the monk's state.' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Then the Blessed One said to Ven. Ānanda, 'Very well then, Ānanda, give Subhadda the going forth.' | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'As you say, lord,' Ven. Ānanda responded. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Then Subhadda said to Ven. Ānanda, 'It is a gain for you, friend Ānanda, a great gain, that you have been anointed here in the Teacher' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Then Subhadda the wanderer received the going forth, he received the admission in the Blessed One's presence. And not long after his admission — dwelling alone, secluded, heedful, ardent, & resolute — he in no long time entered & remained in the unexcelled goal of the holy life, for which clansmen rightly go forth from home into homelessness, | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div chapter> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div alphalist> | ||
+ | <span hlist> [[index|Intro]] | [[part1|Part I]] | [[part2|Part II]] | Part III | [[end|End]] </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | </ | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <span # | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div # | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div showmore> | ||
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+ | </ | ||
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+ | [[http:// | ||
+ | " | ||
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+ | </ | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ---- | ||
+ | |||
+ | <div # |