A BUDDHIST MANUAL
Psychological Ethics,
FROM THE PALI
OF THE
DHAMMA-SANGANI
Translated by CAROLINE A. F. RHYS DAVIDS, M.A.
[PART II.—BAD STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS,
Chapter VI.
The Twelve Bad Thoughts (dvadasa akusalacit-
tani).]
I.
[365] Which are the states that are bad ?^
When a bad thought has arisen, which is accompanied
by happiness, and associated with views and opinions,^ and
has as its object a sight, a sound, a smell, a taste,^ a touch,
a [mental] state, or what not, then there is
contact,
feeling,
perception,
thinking,
thought,
conception,
discursive thought,
joy*
^ In this connexion those constituents of the twelve
thoughts which in themselves are ethically neutral are to
be understood as unchanged in the connotation assigned
them in connexion with good thoughts. There being for
bad thoughts no other sphere of existence save the sensuous
universe, this is to be understood throughout (Asl. 247).
2 Ditthigata-sampayuttam. Cf. p. 83, n. 1, with
§§381,'i003.
^ Kasarammanam va is inadvertently omitted in the
printed text.
ease,
self-collectedness ;^
the faculties of
energy,
concentration,^
ideation,
happiness,
vitality
;
wrong views,
wrong intention,
wrong endeavour,
wrong concentration
;
the powers of
energy,
concentration,
unconscientiousness,
disregard of blame ;
lust, covetousness,
dulness,^ wrong views,
unconscientiousness,
disregard of blame,
^ See following note.
2 Concentration of mind is essential to the higher life
of Buddhism; nevertheless, so far is it from constituting
excellence, that it is also an essential to effective evil-doing.
If the mind be undistracted, says Buddhaghosa, the
murderer's knife does not miss, the theft does not mis-
carry, and by a mind of single intent (lit., of one taste)
evil conduct is carried out (Asl. 248). Cf. the Hebrew
idiom rendered by *the heart being set'—to do good or
evil (Eccles. viii. 11 ; Ps. Ixxviii. 8).
^ Hate (do so) and malice (vyapado) do not find a place
among the factors of Bad Thoughts (corresponding to the
place occupied by their opposites in the Good Thoughts,
§ 1) till we come to the last four types of bad thoughts.
Whereas these are accompanied by melancholy (doma-
nassam), the subject of the first and the following three
types of thought is a cheerful sinner. Joy, ease, happiness,
were held to be incompatible with hate.
quiet,
grasp,!
balance.
Now, these—or whatever other incorporeal, causally
induced states that there are on that occasion—these are
states that are bad.^
[366-370] What on that occasion is contact . . . feeling
. . . perception . . . thinking . . . thought?
Answers as in §§ 2-6 respectively,
[371] What on that occasion is conception ?
Answer as in § 7, substituting '
wrong intention ' (m i c-
chasankappo) for* right intention.'
[372-374] What on that occasion is discursive thought
. . . joy . . . ease?
Answers as m §§ 8-10 respectively.
[375] What on that occasion is self-coUectedness ?
Answer as in § 11, substituting '
wrong concentration '
Jor
'
right concentration.'
[376] What on that occasion is the faculty of energy ?
Ansiver as in § 13, substituting '
wrong endeavour ' for
*
right endeavour.'
[377] What on that occasion is the faculty of concentra-
tion?
Answer as in § 375.
! Vipassana (insight) has been erroneously included
in the text. Moral insight was as incompatible with im-
moral thoughts to the Buddhist as it was to Socrates and
Plato. Hence also 'wisdom' and 'mindfulness' are ex-
cluded, as well as '
faith.' The Cy. rules that the followers
of heretical dogmas and mere opinion can have but a
spurious faith in their teachers, can only be mindful of
bad thoughts, and can only cultivate deceit and delusion.
Nor can there possibly be that sixfold efficiency of sense
and thought which is concomitant with good thoughts (§ § 40-
51). Asl. 249.
2 Kusala in the text is, of course, a slip. There are
in all these Bad Thoughts ten ' whatever-other ' states
:
desire, resolve, attention, conceit, envy (issa, or read
iccha, longing), meanness, stolidity, torpor, excitement,
worry (Asl. 250). See above, p. 5, n. 1.
[378-380] What on that occasion is the faculty of idea-
tion . . . happiness . . . vitality?
Answers as in §§ 17-19 respectively.
[381] What on that occasion are wrong views (miccha-
ditthi)?!
The views which on that occasion are a walking in
opinion, the jungle of opinion,^ the wilderness of opinion,^
the puppet-show of opinion,* the scuffling of opinion,^ the
Fetter of opinion,^ the grip^ and tenacity^ of it, the inclina-
tion totvards it,^ the being infected by it, a by-path, a wrong
road, wrongness, the * fording place,' ^^ shiftiness of grasp
—these are the wrong views that there then are.
^ Micchaditthi is defined in the Cy. (p. 248) as aya-
thavadassanam, seeing things as they are not. (On
ditthi, see § 1003, n.) Sixty-two kinds of this perverted
vision, or ill-grounded speculation are distinguished in the
Brahmajala Sutta (D. i.), all of them being theories of
existence, and are alluded to by the commentator (p. 252).
Cf. Ehys Davids, '
American Lectures,' p. 27 et seq.
^ Because of the difficulty of getting out of it, as out of
a grass, forest, or mountain jungle (AsL, ibid.).
^ Because of the danger and fearsomeness of indulging
in such opinions, as of a desert beset with robbers and
snakes, barren of water or food (ibid.).
* Buddhaghosa does not derive this term from visukam,
but from visu-k ay ikam = antithetically constituted
—
i.e.,
to sammaditthi.
^ The disorder and struggle through some being Annihila-
tionists, some Eternalists, etc. (Asl. 253).
« See § 1113.
^ The obsession by some object of thought, like the grip
of a crocodile (Asl. 253).
^ The text of the Cy. reads patitthaho for patiggaho.
K., however, reads patiggaho.
^ I.e., towards the fallacious opinion of Permanence, etc.
(Asl. 253).
^^ Titthayatanam. It is impossible to get an English
equivalent for this metaphor, which literally means only
a standing-place, but which is usually, in its first intention,
associated with a shallow river- strand or seashore, and, in
[382-384] What on that occasion is wrong intention . .
wrong endeavour . . . wrong concentration ?
Answers as m §§ 371, 376, 375 respectively.
[885, 386] What on that occasion is the power of energy
. . . the power of concentration ?
Ansicers as in §§ 383, 384 respectively.
[387] What on that occasion is the power of uncon-
scientiousness (ahirikabalam)?
The absence which there is on that occasion of any-
feeling of conscientious scruple when scruples ought to be
felt, the absence of conscientious scruple at attaining to
bad and evil states—this is the power of unconscientious-
ness that there then is.
[388] What on that occasion is the power of disregard
of blame (anottappabalam)?
The absence which there is on that occasion of any sense
of guilt where a sense of guilt ought to be felt, the absence ^
of a sense of guilt at attaining to bad and evil states—this
is the power of disregard of blame that there then is.
[389] What on that occasion is lust ?
The lust, lusting, lustfulness which there is on that
occasion, the infatuation, the feeling and being infatuated,
the covetousness, the lust that is the root of badness—this
is the lust that there then is.
[390] What on that occasion is dulness ?
The lack of knowledge, of vision, which there is on that
occasion ; the lack of co-ordination, of judgment, of wake-
fulness,^ of penetration ; the inability to comprehend, to
grasp thoroughly; the inability to compare, to consider,
its second, with sectarian speculative beliefs and the teach-
ing of them. Buddhaghosa himself gives an alternative
connotation : (a) '
where the foolish, in the course of their
gyrations (? i^., samsara) cross over'; (6) the region or
home of sectarians (titthiya). Cf. the use of the term
in M. i. 483.
^ Na has here dropped out of the printed text.
2 Sambodho. Cf. § 285.
to demonstrate; the folly, the childishness, the lack of
intelligence; the dulness that is vagueness, obfuscation,
ignorance, the Flood ^ of ignorance, the Bond of ignorance,
the bias of ignorance, the obsession of ignorance, the
barrier of ignorance ; the dulness that is the root of bad-
ness—this the dulness that there then is.
[391-397] What on that occasion is covetousness . . .
are wrong views ... is unconscientiousness . . . dis-
regard of blame . . . quiet . . . grasp . . . balance ?
Answers as in ^ 389, 381, 387, 388, 375, 376, and, again,
375 respectively.
Or whatever other incorporeal, causally induced states
there are on that occasion—these are states that are bad.
[Summary.]
[397a] Now, on that occasion
the skandhas are four,
the spheres are two,
the elements are two,
the nutriments are three,
the faculties are five,
the Jhana is fivefold,
the Path is fourfold,
the powers are four,
the causes are two,^
contact, I are each single [factors]
;
etc. J etc.
[Continue as in § 58.]
^ On ignorance as a Flood and as a Bond, see below,
§§ 1151, 1151a.
Whereas the mark (lakkhanam) of lust is the seizing
on an object in idea, it is the essence (raso) of dulness to
cover up the real nature of that object, with the result that
the attention devoted to it is of a superficial nature (ayo-
niso). Asl. 249.
2 Namely, '
lust ' and '
dulness.'
[398] What on that occasion is the skandha of syn-
theses ?
Contact,
thinking,
conception,
discursive thought,
joy,
self'CoUectedness
;
the faculties of
energy,
concentration,
vitality
;
wrong views,
wrong intention,
wrong endeavour,
wrong concentration
;
the powers of
energy,
concentration,
unconscientiousness,
disregard of blame
;
lust, covetousness,
dulness
;
wrong views
;
unconscientiousness,
disregard of blame
;
quiet,
grasp,
balance.
These, or whatever other incorporeal, causally induced
states there are on that occasion, exclusive of the skandhas
of feeling, perception and intellect—these are the skandha
of syntheses.
[Continue as in § 58.]
sH 5i: ^i 'Ai i.': ;;;
II.
[399] Which are the states fchat are bad ?
When a bad thought has arisen which is accompanied
by pleasure, associated with views and opinions, and
prompted by a conscious motive,^ and which has as its
object a sight ... or what not, then there is contact . . .
balance . . .
[Continue as in the First 'Thought, § 365.]
III.
[400] Which are the states that are bad ?
When a bad thought has arisen which is accompanied
by happiness and disconnected with views and opinions,
and which has as its object a sight, a sound, a smell, a
taste, a touch, or what not, then there is contact, etc.
[Continue as in the first Bad Thought, but omitting the
single, twice enumerated item 'wrong views. ']^
[Summary.]
[400a] Now, at that time
the skandhas are four,
the spheres are two,
^ The Cy. instances the case of a young man who, being
refused the hand of the daughter of some false doctrinaire
on the ground of his being of a different communion, is
prompted by his affections to frequent the church of the
girl's people and to adopt their views, thus gaining his
reward (Asl. 255).
^ Somanassindriyam, bracketed in the text, must,
of course, be included. The Cy. instances the frame of
mind of those who are indulging in 'worldly pleasures,'
such as public sports and dances, and at village festivals
(natasamajjadini). Cf, 'Dialogues of the Buddha,'
I.', p. 7, n. 4.
It is difficult to interpret the concisely and obscurely
worded double illustration given in the Cy. (p. 257) of this
type of thought. The same circumstances are supposed
as in the Third Thought, with the added low-class delights
of horse-play and vulgar curiosity.
the elements are two,
the nutriments are three,
the faculties are five,
the Jhana is fivefold,
the Path is threefold,
etc., etc.
[Continue as in § 58.]
[401] What on that occasion is the skandha of syn-
theses ?
Answei' as in § 398, omitting * wrong views.'
ly.
[402] Which are the states that are bad ?
When a bad thought has arisen which is accompanied
by pleasure, disconnected with views and opinions, and
prompted by a conscious motive, and which has as its
object a sight ... or what not, then there is contact . . .
balance . . .
{Continue as in the Third Thought, § 400.]
[403] Which are the states that are bad ?
When a bad thought has arisen which is accompanied
by disinterestedness, and associated with views and opinions,
and has as its object a sight, a sound, a smell, a taste, a
touch, a [mental] state, or what not, then there is
contact, thought,
feeling, conception,
perception, discursive thought,
thinking, disinterestedness,
self-coUectedness
;
the faculties of
energy,
concentration,
ideation
;
disinterestedness,
vitality
;
wrong views,
wrong intention,
wrong endeavour,
wrong concentration
;
the powers of
energy,
concentration,
unconscientiousness,
disregard of blame
;
lust, covetousness,
dulness
;
wrong views
;
unconscientiousness,
disregard of blame,
composure,
•
grasp,
balance.
These, or whatever other incorporeal, causally induced
states there are on that occasion—these are states that are
bad.
[404-407] Questions and answers on * contact,' 'feeling,'
'disinterestedness,' and *the faculty of disinterestedness'
identical with those in ^^ 151-154.
[Summary.]
[407a] Now, at that time
the skandhas are four,
etc.,
the faculties are five,
the Jhana is fourfold,^
1
CJ\ § 154a.
the Path is fourfold,
etc.
[Continue as in § 58.]
[408] What on that occasion is the skandha of syn-
theses ?
Contact,
thinking,
conception,
discursive thought,
self-collectedness,
etc.
[Continue as in § 398, *joy' having been omitted as
incompatible with disinterestedness.']
VI.
[409] Which are the states that are bad ?
When a bad thought has arisen which is accompanied
by disinterestedness, associated with views and opinions,
and prompted by a conscious motive, and which has as its
object a sight ... or what not, then there is contact, etc.
[Continue as in Thought V.]
VII.
[410] Which are the states that are bad ?
When a bad thought has arisen which is accompanied
by disinterestedness, and disconnected with views and
opinions, and which has as its object a sight ... or what
not, then there is contact, etc.
[Continue as in Thought F., omitting *
wrong views.']
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