THE PATH
OF PURIFICATION
(VISUDDHIMAGGA)
BY
BHADANTACARIYA BUDDHAGHOSA
Translated from the Pali
by
BHIKKHU NANAMOLI
FIFTH EDITION
BUDDHIST PUBLICATION SOCIETY
Kandy Sri Lanka
131. 18. In the first pentad in the fivefold section the meaning should be
understood in accordance with the virtue of those not fully admitted to
the Order, and so on. For this is said in the Patisarnbhida: *(a) What is
virtue consisting in limited purification? That of the training precepts for
those not fully admitted to the Order: such is virtue consisting in limited
purification, (b) What is virtue consisting in unlimited purification? That
of the training precepts for those fully admitted to the Order: such is
virtue consisting in unlimited purification, (c) What is virtue consisting
in fulfilled purification? That of magnanimous ordinary men devoted to
profitable things, who are perfecting [the course] that ends in trainership,
regardless of the physical body and life, having given up [attachment to]
life: such is virtue of fulfilled purification, (d) What is virtue consisting
in purification not adhered to? That of the seven kinds of trainer: such is
virtue consisting in purification not adhered to. (e) What is virtue con-
sisting in tranquillized purification? That of the Perfect One's disciples
with cankers destroyed, of the Paccekabuddhas, of the Perfect Ones, ac-
complished and fully enlightened: such is virtue consisting in tranquil-
lized purification' (Ps.i,42-43).
132. (a) Herein, the virtue of those not fully admitted to the Order
should be understood as virtue consisting in limited purification, because
it is limited by the number [of training precepts, that is, 5 or 8 or 10],
(b) That of those fully admitted to the Order is [describable] thus:
Nine thousand millions, and a hundred
And eighty millions then as well,
And fifty plus a hundred thousand,
And thirty-six again to swell
The total restraint disciplines:
These rules the Enlightened One explains
Told under heads for filling out,
Which the Discipline restraint contains.
35
So although limited in number, [47] it should yet be understood as virtue
consisting in unlimited purification, since it is undertaken without re-
serve and has no obvious limit such as gain, fame, relatives, limbs or
life. Like the virtue of the Elder Maha-Tissa the Mango-eater who lived
at Ciragumba (see §122 above).
133. For that venerable one never abandoned the following good man's
recollection:
*Wealth for a sound limb's sake should be renounced,
And one who guards his life gives up his limbs;
And wealth and limbs and life, each one of these,
A man gives up who practises the Dhamma'.
And he never transgressed a training precept even when his life was in
the balance, and in this way he reached Arahantship with that same
virtue of unlimited purification as his support while he was being carried
on a lay devotee's back. According as it is said:
'Nor your mother nor your father
Nor your relatives and kin
Have done as much as this for you
Because you are possessed of virtue'.
So, stirred with urgency, and wisely
Comprehending36
with insight,
While carried on his helper's back
He reached the goal of Arahantship.
134. (c) The magnanimous ordinary man's virtue, which from the time
of admission to the Order is devoid even of the stain of a [wrong]
thought because of its extreme purity, like a gem of purest water, like
well-refined gold, becomes the proximate cause for Arahantship itself,
which is why it is called consisting of fulfilled purification; like that of
the Elders Sahgharakkhita the Great and Sahgharakkhita the Nephew.
135. The Elder Sahgharakkhita the Great (Mahd-Sahgharakkhita), aged
over sixty, was lying, it seems, on his deathbed. The Order of Bhikkhus
questioned him about attainment of the supramundane state. The elder
said: 'I have no supramundane state'. Then the young bhikkhu who was
attending on him said: 'Venerable sir, people have come as much as
twelve leagues, thinking that you have reached nibbana. It will be a dis-
appointment for many if you die as an ordinary man'. — 'Friend, think-
ing to see the Blessed One Metteyya, I did not try for insight. [48] So
help me to sit up and give me the chance'. He helped the elder to sit up
and went out. As he went out the elder reached Arahantship and he gave
a sign by snapping his fingers. The Order assembled and said to him:
'Venerable sir, you have done a difficult thing in achieving the supra-
mundane state in the hour of death'. — 'That was not difficult, friends.
But rather I will tell you what is difficult. Friends, I see no action done
[by me] without mindfulness and unknowingly since the time I went
forth'. His nephew also reached Arahantship in the same way at the age
of fifty years.
136. 'Now if a man has little learning
And he is careless of his virtue,
They censure him on both accounts
For lack of virtue and of learning.
'But if he is of little learning
Yet he is careful of his virtue,
They praise him for his virtue, so
It is as though he too had learning.
'And if he is of ample learning
Yet he is careless of his virtue,
They blame him for his virtue, so
It is as though he had no learning.
'But if he is of ample learning
And he is careful of his virtue,
They give him praise on both accounts
For virtue and as well for learning.
'The Buddha's pupil of much learning
Who keeps the Law with understanding—
A jewel of Jambu River gold37
—
Who is here fit to censure him?
Deities praise him [constantly],
By Brahma also is he praised' (A.ii,7).
137. (d) What should be understood as virtue consisting in purification
not adhered to is trainers' virtue, because it is not adhered to by [false]
view, and ordinary men's virtue when not adhered to by greed. Like the
virtue of the Elder Tissa the Landowner's Son (Kutumbiyaputta-Tissa-
thera). Wanting to become established in Arahantship in dependence on
such virtue, this venerable one told his enemies:
I broke the bones of both my legs
To give the pledge you asked from me.
I am revolted and ashamed
At death accompanied by greed. [49]
And after I had thought on this,
And wisely then applied insight,
When the sun rose and shone on me,
I had become an Arahant' (see MA.i,233).
138. Also there was a certain senior elder who was very ill and unable to
eat with his own hand. He was writhing smeared with his own urine and
excrement. Seeing him, a certain young bhikkhu said, 'Oh, what a pain-
ful process life is!'. The senior elder told him: 'If I were to die now,
friend, I should obtain the bliss of heaven; I have no doubt of that. But
the bliss obtained by breaking this virtue would be like the lay state ob-
tained by disavowing the training', and he added: 'I shall die together
with my virtue'. As he lay there, he comprehended that same illness
[with insight], and he reached Arahantship. Having done so, he pro-
nounced these verses to the Order of Bhikkhus:
'I am victim of a sickening disease
That racks me with its burden of cruel pain;
As flowers in the dust burnt by the sun,
So this my corpse will soon have withered up.
'Unbeautiful called beautiful,
Unclean while reckoned as if clean,
Though full of ordure seeming fair
To him that cannot see it clear.
'So out upon this ailing rotting body,
Fetid and filthy, punished with affliction,
Doting on which this silly generation
Has lost the way to be reborn in heaven!' (JA.ii,437).
139. (e) It is the virtue of the Arahants, etc., that should be understood
as tranquillized purification, because of tranquillization of all distur-
bance and because of purifiedness.
So it is of five kinds as 'consisting in limited purification', and so
on.
140. 19. In the second pentad the meaning should be understood as the
abandoning, etc., of killing living things, etc.; for this is said in the Pati-
sambhida: 'Five kinds of virtue: (1) In the case of killing living things,
(a) abandoning is virtue, (b) abstention is virtue, (c) volition is virtue,
(d) restraint is virtue, (e) non-transgression is virtue. (2) In the case of
taking what is not given ... (3) In the case of sexual misconduct... (4) In
the case of false speech ... (5) In the case of malicious speech ... (6) In
the case of harsh speech ... (7) In the case of gossip ... [50] (8) In the
case of covetousness ... (9) In the case of ill will ... (10) In the case of
wrong view ...
'(11) Through renunciation in the case of lust, (a) abandoning is vir-
tue ... (12) Through non-ill-will in the case of ill-will ... (13) Through
perception of light in the case of stiffness-and-torpor ... (14) Through
non-distraction ... agitation ... (15) Through definition of states (dhamrna)
... uncertainty ... (16) Through knowledge ... ignorance ... (17) Through
gladdening in the case of boredom ...
'(18) Through the first jhana in the case of the hindrances, (a) aban-
doning is virtue ... (19) Through the second jhana ... applied and sus-
tained thought ... (20) Through the third jhana ... happiness ...
(21) Through the fourth jhana in the case of pleasure and pain,
(a) abandoning is virtue ... (22) Through the attainment of the base con-
sisting of boundless space in the case of perceptions of matter, percep-
tions of resistance, and perceptions of variety, (a) abandoning is virtue
... (23) Through the attainment of the base consisting of boundless con-
sciousness in the case of the perception of the base consisting of bound-
less space ... (24) Through the attainment of the base consisting of noth-
ingness in the case of the perception of the base consisting of boundless
consciousness ... (25) Through the attainment of the base consisting of
neither perception nor non-perception in the case of the perception of the
base consisting of nothingness . . .
'(26) Through the contemplation of impermanence in the case of the
perception of permanence, (a) abandoning is virtue ... (27) Through the
contemplation of pain in the case of the perception of pleasure ...
(28) Through the contemplation of not-self in the case of the perception
of self ... (29) Through the contemplation of dispassion in the case of
the perception of delighting ... (30) Through the contemplation of fading
away in the case of greed ... (31) Through the contemplation of cessa-
tion in the case of originating ... (32) Through the contemplation of re-
linquishment in the case of grasping ...
'(33) Through the contemplation of destruction in the case of the
perception of compactness, (a) abandoning is virtue ... (34) Through the
contemplation of fall [of formations] in the case of accumulating [kamma]
... (35) Through the contemplation of change in the case of the percep-
tion of lastingness ... (36) Through the contemplation of the signless in
the case of a sign ... (37) Through the contemplation of the desireless in
the case of desire ... (38) Through the contemplation of voidness in the
case of misinterpreting (insistence) ... (39) Through insight into states
that is higher understanding in the case of misinterpreting (insistence)
due to grasping ... (40) Through correct knowledge and vision in the
case of misinterpreting (insistence) due to confusion ... (41) Through the
contemplation of danger in the case of misinterpreting (insistence) due to
reliance [on formations] ... (42) Through reflexion in the case of non-
reflexion ... (43) Through the contemplation of turning away in the case
of misinterpreting (insistence) due to bondage ...
'(44) Through the path of stream-entry in the case of defilements
coefficient with [false] view, (a) abandoning is virtue ... (45) Through
the path of once-return in the case of gross defilements ... (46) Through
the path of non-retum in the case of residual defilements ... (47) Through
the path of Arahantship in the case of all defilements, (a) abandoning is
virtue, (b) abstention is virtue, (c) volition is virtue, (d) restraint is virtue,
(e) non-transgression is virtue.
'Such virtues lead to non-remorse in the mind, to gladdening, to
happiness, to tranquillity, to joy, to repetition, to development, to culti-
vation, to embellishment, to the requisite [for concentration], to the equip-
ment [of concentration], to fulfilment, to complete dispassion, to fading
away, to cessation, to peace, to direct-knowledge, to enlightenment, to
nibbana' (Ps.i,46-47).
38
141. And here there is no state called abandoning other than the mere
non-arising of the killing of living things, etc., as stated. But the aban-
doning of a given [unprofitable state] upholds [51] a given profitable
state in the sense of providing a foundation for it, and concentrates it by
preventing wavering, so it is called 'virtue' {sila) in the sense of com-
posing (silana), reckoned as upholding and concentrating as stated ear-
lier (§19).
The other four things mentioned refer to the presence
39
of occur-
rence of will as abstention from such and such, as restraint of such and
such, as the volition associated with both of these, and as non-transgres-
sion in one who does not transgress such and such. But their meaning of
virtue has been explained already.
So it is of five kinds as 'virtue consisting in abandoning' and so
on.
142. At this point the answers to the questions, 'What is virtue? In what
sense is it virtue? What are its characteristic, function, manifestation,
and proximate cause? What are the benefits of virtue? How many kinds
of virtue are there?', are complete.
0 comments:
Post a Comment