A BUDDHIST MANUAL
Psychological Ethics,
FROM THE PALI
OF THE
DHAMMA-SANGANI
Translated by CAROLINE A. F. RHYS DAVIDS, M.A.
[Chaptek IV.
Degrees of Efficacy in Good relating to the Three
Kealms.
1. Good in relation to the Universe of Sense (kama-
Vacarakusalam).]
[269] Which are the states that are good ?
When a good thought concerning the sensuous universe
has arisen, which is (I.) accompanied by happiness and
associated with knowledge—a thought which is
of inferior, or
of medium, or
of superlative efficacy,^
or the dominant influence in which is
desire, or
energy, or
^ The effective power or karma of all the foregoing
thoughts and exercises to modify the individual's existence
in one universe or another for good seems to have been,
for practical purposes, distinguished under three grades of
efficacy. So I gather, at least, from the comment on this
curious section (pp. 211, 212) :
' " inferior " (hinam) must
be understood to mean paltry in respect of heaping up.'
'
Heaping up ' is in later books almost always associated
with karma. Meaning to toil, more specifically to dig up,
pile up, it is used to express the metaphorical notion of
ever accumulating merit or demerit constituting the indi-
vidual's potentiality in the way of rebirth. Cf. Mil. 109
;
also below, § 1059, n. 9, on '
she who toils.' The Patthana
may throw more light on the subject (AsL, ibid.).
[another] thought, or
investigation ;^
or the dominant influence in which is
desire of inferior,
of medium, or
of superlative efficacy
;
or the dominant influence in which is
energy of inferior,
of medium, or
of superlative efficacy
;
or the dominant influence in which is
[another] thought of inferior,
of medium, or
of superlative efficacy
;
^ An explanation is also needed, it seems to me, for this
association of the Four Iddhipadas (M. i. 103 ; A. iii. 82
;
S. V. 264-266) with this special aspect of karma ; for they
lead to Arahatship rather than to rebirth in some other
plane. The Cy. only states that when anyone, in the act
of accumulating, relinquishes desire or the rest, '
that ' is
called inferior [in efficacy] ; that when these four states
are moderately or superlatively efficacious they are called
accordingly ; and that *
when anyone has accumulated,
having made desire (chando), i.e., the wishing-to-do, his
sovereign, chief and leader,' then the procedure is said to
be under the dominant influence of desire. So for the
other three.
It is to be regretted that the Cy. does not discuss the
term vimamsa (investigation), or the propriety of its
position in this series of four. It would be interesting to
have learnt its psychological import in relation to vitakko
and vicar 0. There is a suggestion of dual symmetry
about the series: as chando is to viriyarn (conation
passing into action), so is cittam (the idea) to the dis-
cursive re-representative intellection of vimamsa. I have
rendered cittadhipateyyam by the influence of another
thought in accordance with the Cy. (213), where it is said
to be an associated thought, or states associated with the
original '
good thought.'
There is another brief comment on the adhipateyyas
below, § 1034, n. 2.
or the dominant influence in which is
investigation of inferior,
of medium, or
of superlative efficacy,^
then the contact . . . the balance that arises—these . . .
are states that are good.
[270] Which are the states that are good ?
When a good thought concerning the sensuous universe
has arisen which is (II.) accompanied by happiness,
associated with knowledge, and prompted by a conscious
motive . . .
or (III.) accompanied by happiness, and disconnected with
knowledge . . .
or (IV.) accompanied by happiness, disconnected with
knowledge, and prompted by a conscious motive . . .
or (V.) accompanied by disinterestedness, and associated
with knowledge . . .
or (VI.) accompanied by disinterestedness, associated with
knowledge, and prompted by a conscious motive . . .
or (VII.) accompanied by disinterestedness, and discon-
nected with knowledge ...
or (VIII.) accompanied by disinterestedness, disconnected
with knowledge, and prompted by a conscious motive—
a
thought which is of inferior . . .
or of medium ...
or of superlative efficacy ...
^ The tabulated form adopted in this and following
replies is intended not only to facilitate a conspectus of
the system, but also to indicate the elision in the Pali
(expressed by . . . pe . . . ) of the repetition of the
unvarying framework of the reply before and after each
tabulated term. The Koman numerals in this and the
next reply refer to the original statement of the 'Eight
Main Types of Thought' in Chapter I. Apparently the
sensuous basis of the arammanam of each thought is not
intended to be here rehearsed.
or the dominant influence in which is
desire, or
energy, or
another thought ;
or the dominant influence in which is
desire of inferior,
of medium, or
of superlative efficacy
;
or the dominant influence in which is
energy of inferior,
of medium, or
of superlative efficacy
;
or the dominant influence in which is
[another] thought of inferior,
of medium, or
of superlative efficacy
;
then the contact . . . the balance that arises—these . . .
are states that are good.^
2. Good in relation to the Universe of Form.
[271] Which are the states that are good ?
When, that he may attain to the heavens of Form, he
cultivates the way thereto, and, aloof from sensuous appe-
tites, aloof from evil ideas, by earth-gazing enters into and
abides in the First Jhana (the first rapt meditation) . . .
which is
of inferior,
or of medium,
or of superlative efficacy
;
^ In accordance with the usual procedure in the Dhamma
Sangani, when combining several subjects in one sentence,
the final details apply only to the last subject in the
series. Hence '
investigation ' is omitted in connexion
with Thought VIII., because, presumably, the latter is
'
disconnected with knowledge.' And it would likewise have
been omitted in connexion with Thoughts III., IV. and VII.,
but not in connexion with the others.
or the dominant influence in which is
desire, or
energy, or
a thought, or
investigation
;
or the dominant influence in which is
desire . . . energy ... a thought . . . investigation
of inferior,
of medium,
or of superlative efficacy
—
then the contact . . . the balance that arises—these . . .
are states that are good.
[272] Repeat in the case of the other Jhanas, both of
(a) and (b).
• 3. Good in relation to the Formless Universe.
[273] Which are the states that are good ?
When, that he may attain to the Formless heavens, he
cultivates the way thereto, and so, by passing wholly beyond
all consciousness of form, by the dying out of the conscious-
ness of sensory reaction, by turning the attention from any
consciousness of the manifold, he enters into and abides
in that rapt meditation which is accompanied by the con-
sciousness of a sphere of unbounded space—even into the
Fourth Jhana, to gain which all sense of ease must have
been put away, etc.—(the rapt meditation) where there is
neither ill nor ease, but only the perfect purity that comes
of mindfulness and disinterestedness, and which is of
inferior . . .
medium . . .
or superlative efficacy . . .
or the dominant influence in which is
desire ...
or energy ...
or a thought . . .
or investigation . . .
or the dominant influence in which is
desire . . . energy ... a thought . . . investigation
of inferior . . .
medium ...
superlative efficacy
—
then the contact . . . the balance that arises—these . . .
are states that are good.
[274-276] Here folloiv the three remaining *
Jhanas con-
nected with Formless Existence,' each modified hy the
characteristics enumerated in the foregoing ansiver. Cf.
§§ 266-268.1
1 In § 275 the text inadvertently omits majjhimam
. . . pe . . . panitam . . . pe . . . before vimam-
sadhipateyyam.
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