Khuddaka Nikaya - Nettippakarana ( The Guide ) - First Grouping - Illustrative Quotations 3
ACCORDING TO
KACCANA THERA
TRANSLATED FROM THE PALI BY
BHIKKHU NANAMOLI
Pali Text Society
[3]
805. Herein, what is the type of Thread dealing with penetration ?
(Above, below, in every way released,
And seeing not at all that ' / am this';
Thus liberated, he has crossed the flood
Not crossed before, for non-renewal of being )
(§352;Pe24, 176).
This is the type of Thread dealing with penetration.
806. [l£&]((
Ananda, no virtuous man has to choose "How shall I
have no remorse ?"; for it is essential to the idea of the virtuous man
that he has no remorse. No man without remorse has to choose "How
shall I be glad V';for it is essential to the idea of a man without remorse
that he is glad. No man who is glad has to choose "How shall I be
happy ?"; for it is essential to the idea of a man who is glad that he is
happy. No happy man has to choose "How will my body become
tranquil V"; for it is essential to the idea of a happy man that his body
is tranquil. No one tranquil in body lias to choose "How shall I feel
[bodily] pleasure ?"; for it is essential to the idea of one tranquil in
body that he feels [bodily] pleasure. No one [feeling bodily] pleasure
has to choose "How shall I become concentrated V''; for it is essential
to the idea of one [feeling bodily] pleasure that he is concentrated.
No one who is concentrated has to choose "How shall I understand
how [things] are ?"; for it is essential to the idea of one who is con-
centrated that he understands how [things] are. No one who under-
stands how [things] are has to choose thus "How shall I find dispassion V'';
for it is essential to the idea of one who understands how [things] are
that he finds dispassion. No one finding dispassion has to choose
"How will lust fade in me ?";for it is essential to tlie idea of one finding
dispassion that lust fades in him. No one in whom lust has faded
has to choose "How shall I be liberated ?"; for it is essential to the
idea of one in whom lust has faded that he is liberated. No one
liberated has to choose "How shall I have knowledge and seeing of
deliverance V; for it is essential to the idea of one liberated that he has
knowledge and seeing of deliverance) (cf. A. v, 2f.; cf. Pe 44, 182).
This is the type of Thread dealing with penetration.
807. [145] (When true ideas are manifest to him that lives
As one become divine by ardent meditation;
Then all his doubts do vanish since he understands
How each idea [arising] has its cause) (Ud. 2; Yin, i, 2).
This is the type of Thread dealing with penetration.
808. ( When true ideas are manifest to him that lives
As one become divine by ardent meditation;
Then all his doubts do vanish since he understands
Exhaustion of conditions [for arising^ (Ud. 2; Yin. i, 2).
This is the type of Thread dealing with penetration.
809. ( Why are you angry ? Never be angry.
Non-cmger, Tissa, should be your rule.
The Life Divine is lived for outguiding
Anger, conceit and contemptuousness) (S. ii, 282).
This is the type of Thread dealing with penetration.
810. (When shall I see Nanda a forest-dweller,
Wearer of robes made out of refuse-rags,
Gleaning his sustenance unrecognized
And unconcerned for sensual desires ?) (S. ii, 281).
This is the type of Thread dealing with penetration.
811. ('One lies in bliss with what burnt out f
1
One sorrows not with what burnt out ?
Destruction of what one idea
Do you proclaim, 0 Gotama V
'One lies in bliss with anger burnt out
One sorrows not with anger burnt out.
811/1 Reading jhatvd from among the many videlicets.
The Noble Ones commend destruction
Of anger, as the poison-root
With a sweet-tasting sprout; with that
Burnt out, Divine, one sorrows nof) (S. i, 161; cf. S. i, 41).
This is the type of Thread dealing with penetration.
812. ('What should, when once sprung up,
1
be killed ?
What should, when born, be guided out ?
What should the steadfast man reject ?
And what, when actualized, is bliss V
[146] 'Anger should, when sprung up, be killed.
Lust should, when born, be guided out.
Ignorance steadfast men reject.
And actualizing truth is bliss' ) ( ).
This is the type of Thread dealing with penetration.
813. ('As pierced by a down-falling spear,
As though he had his head on fire,
A mindful bhikku sets about
Abandoning lust for sense desires'
'As pierced by a down-falling spear,
As though he had his head on fire,
A mindful bhikkhu sets about
Abandoning embodiment-view') (S. i, 13, 53; Pe 48).
1
This is the type of Thread dealing with penetration.
814. ('The end of all stores is exhaustion,
The built-up ends by falling down,
None is there but must come to death,
And none has everlasting life.
So then, remembering this fear of death,
Make merit because merit bliss provides.'
812/1 Reading uppatitam with 0, Ba, Bb and NettiA instead of uppatitam.
813/1 SA (reproduced by NettiA) points out that the mistake made by the
deity who utters the 1st statement is in fancying that mere abandoning of
sensual desires by suppression (by meditation, or by rebirth in the higher
heavens) without entirely severing them by purification of view is enough.
And so the Buddha points out in his reply that it is wrong view that must be
abandoned. The next question and answer (§814) are of the same sort.
'The end of all stores is exhaustion,
The built-up ends by falling down,
None is there but must come to death,
And none has everlasting life.
1
So then, remembering this fear of death,
Leave worldly matters, look instead to peace') ( ).
This is the type of Thread dealing with penetration.
815. (It is the Stilled Ones lie in bliss,
They never sorrow, Mdvidha,
Whose minds delight in meditations ) ( ).
(He that is wise, well concentrated,
Energetic and self-controlled,
Crosses the flood so hard to cross,
Shunning percepts of sense-desires,
Gone beyond every kind of fetter,
With relish and being both exhausted,
He never founders in the deeps ) (cf. AS . i, 53).
This is the type of Thread dealing with penetration.
816. (When he has faith in the True Idea
Whereby the Accomplished reach extinction,
Through wish to hear gains understanding,
Is diligent and has discretion,
[147] Does what is right, is loyal, alert,
He will experience its riches,
And truth will bring him a good name,
And giving ensures friends for him,
And when from this world to the next
He goes, he knows no sorrowing) (S. i, 214f.).
This is the type of Thread dealing with penetration.
817. ('For you who have all this rejected
As a monk completely freed,
814/1 Cf. Uddnavarga I. 22 (Chakravarti edn., p. 4) :
sarve ksaydntd nicaydh patandntah samucchraydh
samyogd viprayogdntd marandntam ca jivitam
(quoted Lamotte, Hist, du Bouddhism Indien, p. 548, n. 21), and see Mahd-
vastu iii, p. 152, 183; Divydvaddna, pp. 27, 100, 486. Cf. also Dhp. 148:
maranantam hi jivitam.
It is improper that you should
Impart instruction to another.
9
'Sakha, no matter how it is
Companionship may come about,
To let his mind be stirred by that
Befits no man of understanding.
But if, with mind clear-confident,
He should instruct another, then
He is by that in no way fettered1
With any stirrings of emotion) (S. i, 206).
This is the type of Thread dealing with penetration.
818. ('Lusting and hating have what for their source ?
Delight, boredom, horror: from what are they born ?
And where is the mould for the thoughts in the mind
Like to boys who would dangle a crow [on a string]?
'Lusting and hating have this
1
for their source.
Delight, boredom, horror: from this they are born.
And this is the mould for the thoughts in the mind
Like to boys who would dangle a crow [on a string].
They are born and gain being from [sappy] affection
Like suckers that sprout from a banyan-tree stump;
And attached far and wide among sensual desires
Like a wood tented over with maluva-creeper.
When men understand it and wherefrom it sources
They put it away. And now listen, 0 spirit:
9
Tis they that cross over the flood hard to cross,
Not crossed before, for non-renewal of being9
) (Sn. 270-3).
This is the type of Thread dealing with penetration.
819. [148] ('0 Blessed One His hard to do; 0 Blessed One His very
hard to do /'
1
Yet
1
what is hard tot do Initiates do,
Kamada9
the Blessed One said,
'Through virtue concentrated, steady in themselves,
817/1 Cf . the '3 satipatthdnd' at M. iii, 221 for this equanimity towards
pupils.
818/1 'This' means 'this personality' (NettiA 200).
819/1 Read in each case
i
vdpi
)
and resolve into eva api. The name
i
kdmada'
)
means 'given to sensual-desire'.
Content brings bliss to one in homelessness.'
'0 Blessed One, His hard to gain content F
' Yet what is hard to gain they yet do gain,
Kdmada' the Blessed One said,
'Whom peaceful cognizance delights, whose minds
Delight to keep it day and night in being.'
(
0 Blessed One, 'tis hard to concentrate F
'They concentrate the hard-to-concentrate,
Kdmada' the Blessed One said,
' Whom having faculties at peace delights,
Who cut the net Mortality has made
And thereby go ennobled, Kdmada'
'0 Blessed One, hard going the uneven way F
' Yet, Kdmada, the ennobled go where going
Is hard, uneven. While ignoble ones
On paths uneven fall head-over-heels,
For those ennobled that same path is even,
Since they are even in unevenness') (S. i, 48).
This is the type of Thread dealing with, penetration.
(0 healing J eta's Wood, frequented
By the community of Seers,
Where lives the True Idea's own king,
The fount of all my happiness.
By acts, by science, by the True Idea,
By virtue, the sublimest life,
By these are mortals purified
And not by lineage or riches.
A wise man, therefore, when he sees
His own good should investigate
The True Idea in reasoned way,
That there he may be purified.
Sdriputta is first of all
In virtue, understanding, peace:
At best a bhikkhu who has gone
Across can only equal him) (M. iii, 262; S. i, 33).
This is the type of Thread dealing with penetration.
(Let not a man trace back the past
Or wonder what the future holds:
The past is . . . but the left-behind,
The future . . . but the yet-unreached.
[149] Rather, with insight let him see
Each idea presently-arisen:
To know and to be sure of that,
Invincibly, unshakably.
Today the effort must be made:
Tomorrow death may come, who knows ?
No bargain1
with Mortality
Can keep him and his hordes away.
But one who bides thus ardently,
Relentlessly, by day, by night,
9
Tis he, the Hermit Stilled has said,
2
That 'has One Fortunate Attachment'^ (M. iii, 187).
This is the type of Thread dealing with penetration.
821/1 Read (as in M. text) sangaram tena instead of sanhar'antena.
821/2 The grammar of this line is: santo muni tarn vz 'bhaddekaratto' ti
dcikkhati. Santo muni ( = a Buddha) is subject of verb dcikkhati and tarn
( — bhaddekaratto: its object).
821/3 I t is not clear precisely what bhaddekaratto, (the name of 4 successive
Suttas in the Majjhima Nikdya) means. NettiA (p. 203) says 'Evam pati-
pannattd bhaddo ekaratto assd ti bhaddekaratto'' ( = MA. v, 3). MAA adds
i
Ekd ratti ekaratto, bhaddo ekaratto etassd ti bhaddekarattam vipassanam pari-
bruhento puggalo; eterfaha "vipassandnuyogasamanndgatattd" (MA. v, 1).
Tarn uddissa pavattiyd pana bhaddekarattasahacaranato bhaddekaratto; tertdha
bhagavd " Bhaddekarattassa vo bhikkliave uddesan ca vibhangan ca desissdmV
(M. iii, 187) t? (MAA. iii, 368, Burm. ed.). Netti Tlkd offers nothing. The
only other mention, referring to these 4 Suttas, is at Ndl. 484, namely
'bhaddekrattavihdrarti in an explanation of
i
jdgariydnuyogapariyanto\ The
NdA has nothing enlightening. All these comments seem to take the ratt
element as representing ratti ('night' = Skr. rdtri), and so the literal transla-
tion would then be 'one who has an auspicious one (i.e., entire) night ' (i.e.,
'the night spent as one entirely in insight') and the Burmese transcript of
the Majjhima Nikdya gives the same sense to ''bhaddekaratto' as to l
ahorattam'
('by day, by night') two lines higher. But these explanations are all gram-
matical and avoid the meaning. The term might—it has been suggested,
but this is entirely speculative—have been a popular one for, say, the Hindu
Sivardtri (the last night of the waning moon, and devoted by Brahmans to
meditation), which was purposely given a new sense here by the Buddha, as
he did with many other current terms. (Ekarattivdso at Sn. 19 has apparently
no connection with this, being simply the opposite of samdnavdso at Sn. 18.)
An alternative derivation might be that ratt stands for ratto or ratti from
\/ranj 'to desire to lust' : cf. dhamma-rdga (A. iv, 423) or tathdgatdranjita
(§59); cf. the 'profitable craving' and 'profitable conceit' (§§506-7), though
there is apparently no example of ratti from this root in Pal i (cf. Skr. rakti).
This interpretation has been adopted in the translation here as more trenchant
822. (Bhikkhus, there are these four verifiables. What four? (/)
There are ideas verifiable by the eye and by understanding, (2) There
are ideas verifiable by mindfulness and by understanding, (3) There
are ideas verifiable by the body and by understanding. (4) There are
ideas experienceable through understanding and verifiable by under-
standing. (1) What ideas are verifiable by the eye and by under-
standing? The heavenly eye, which is purified and surpasses the
human, is verifiable by the eye and by understanding. (2) What
ideas are verifiable by mindfulness and by understanding ? The
recollection of past life is verifiable by mindfulness and by under-
standing. (3) What ideas are verifiable by the body and by under-
standing? The power of supernormal success, and cessation, are
verifiable by the body and by understanding. (4) What ideas are
experienceable through understanding and verifiable by understanding ?
The knowledge of exhaustion of taints is experienceable through under-
standing and verifiable by understanding) (cf. A. ii, 182f.).
This is the type of Thread dealing with penetration.
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