THE PATH
OF PURIFICATION
(VISUDDHIMAGGA)
BY
BHADANTACARIYA BUDDHAGHOSA
Translated from the Pali
by
BHIKKHU NANAMOLI
FIFTH EDITION
BUDDHIST PUBLICATION SOCIETY
Kandy Sri Lanka
[(2) COMPASSION / KARUNA]
77. One who wants to develop compassion should begin his task by re-
viewing the danger in lack of compassion and the advantage in compas-
sion.
And when he begins it, he should not direct it at first towards the
dear, etc., persons; for one who is dear simply retains the position of one
who is dear, a very dear companion retains the position of a very dear
companion, one who is neutral retains the position of one who is neutral,
one who is antipathetic retains the position of one who is antipathetic,
and one who is hostile retains the position of one who is hostile. One of
the opposite sex and one who is dead are also not the field for it.
78. In the Vibhahga it is said: 'And how does a bhikkhu dwell pervad-
ing one direction with his heart endued with compassion? Just as he
would feel compassion on seeing an unlucky, unfortunate person, so he
pervades all beings with compassion* (Vbh. 273). Therefore first of all,
on seeing a wretched man, unlucky, unfortunate, in every way a fit
object for compassion, unsightly, reduced to utter misery, with hands
and feet cut off, sitting in the shelter for the helpless with a pot placed
before him, with a mass of maggots oozing from his arms and legs, and
moaning, compassion should be felt for him in this way: 'This being has
indeed been reduced to misery; if only he could be freed from this
suffering!'.
But if he does not encounter such a person, then he can arouse com-
passion for an evil-doing person, even though he is happy, by comparing
him to one about to be executed. How?
79. Suppose a robber has been caught with stolen goods, and in accor-
dance with the king's command to execute him, the king's men bind him
and lead him off to the place of execution, giving him a hundred blows
in sets of four. Then people give him things to chew and eat and also
garlands and perfumes, unguents and betel leaves. Although [315] he
goes along eating and enjoying these things as though he were happy
and well off, still no one fancies that he is really happy and well off. On
the contrary people feel compassion for him, thinking 'This poor wretch
is now about to die; every step he takes brings him nearer to the presence
of death'. So too a bhikkhu whose meditation subject is compassion
should arouse compassion for an [evil-doing] person even if he is happy:
'Though this poor wretch is now happy, cheerful, enjoying his wealth,
still for want of even one good deed done now in any one of the three
doors [of body, speech and mind] he can come to experience untold suf-
fering in the states of loss'.
80. Having aroused compassion for that person in that way, he should
next arouse compassion for a dear person, next for a neutral person, and
next for a hostile person, successively in the same way.
81. But if resentment towards the hostile person arises in the way al-
ready described, he should make it subside in the way described under
lovingkindness (§§14-39).
And here too when someone has done profitable deeds and the
meditator sees or hears that he has been overtaken by one of the kinds of
ruin beginning with ruin of health, relatives, property, etc., he deserves
the meditator's compassion; and so he does too in any case, even with no
such ruin, thus 'In reality he is unhappy', because he is not exempt from
the suffering of the round [of becoming]. And in the way already de-
scribed the meditator should break down the barriers between the four
kinds of people, that is to say, himself, the dear person, the neutral
person and the hostile person. Then cultivating that sign, developing it
and repeatedly practising it, he should increase the absorption by the
triple and quadruple jhana in the way already stated under lovingkind-
ness.
82. But the order given in the Anguttara Commentary is that a hostile
person should first be made the object of compassion, and when the
mind has been made malleable with respect to him, next the unlucky
person, next the dear person, and next oneself. That does not agree with
the text, 'an unlucky, unfortunate person' (§78). Therefore he should
begin the development, break down the barriers, and increase absorption
only in the way stated here.
83. After that, the versatility consisting in the unspecified pervasion in
five ways, the specified pervasion in seven ways, and the directional per-
vasion in ten ways, and the advantages described as 'He sleeps in com-
fort', etc., should be understood in the same way as given under lov-
ingkindness.
This is the detailed explanation of the development of compassion.
[316]
[(3) GLADNESS / MUDITA]
84. One who begins the development of gladness
10
should not start with
the dear person and the rest; for a dear person is not the proximate cause
of gladness merely in virtue of dearness, how much less the neutral and
the hostile person. One of the opposite sex and one who is dead are also
not the field for it.
85. However, the very dear companion can be the proximate cause for
it—one who in the commentaries is called a 'boon companion', for he is
constantly glad: he laughs first and speaks afterwards. So he should be
the first to be pervaded with gladness. Or on seeing or hearing about a
dear person being happy, cheerful and glad, gladness can be aroused
thus: 'This being is indeed glad. How good, how excellent!'. For this is
what is referred to in the Vibhahga: 'And how does a bhikkhu dwell
pervading one direction with his heart endued with gladness? Just as he
would be glad on seeing a dear and beloved person, so he pervades all
beings with gladness' (Vbh. 274).
86. But if his boon companion or the dear person was happy in the past
but is now unlucky and unfortunate, then gladness can still be aroused
by remembering his past happiness and apprehending the glad aspect in
this way: 'In the past he had great wealth, a great following and he was
always glad'. Or gladness can be aroused by apprehending the future
glad aspect in him in this way: 'In the future he will again enjoy similar
success and will go about in gold palanquins, on the backs of elephants
or on horseback, and so on'.
Having thus aroused gladness with respect to a dear person, he can
then direct it successively towards a neutral one, and after that towards a
hostile one.
87. But if resentment towards the hostile one arises in him in the way
already described, he should make it subside in the same way as de-
scribed under lovingkindness (§§14-39).
He should break down the barriers by means of mental impartiality
towards the four, that is, towards these three and himself. And by culti-
vating that sign, developing and repeatedly practising it, he should in-
crease the absorption to triple and quadruple jhana in the way already
stated under lovingkindness.
Next, the versatility consisting in unspecified pervasion in five ways,
specified pervasion in seven ways, and directional pervasion in ten ways,
and also the advantages described as 'He sleeps in comfort', etc., should
be understood in the same way as stated under lovingkindness.
This is the detailed explanation of the development of gladness.
[317]
[(4) EQUANIMITY / UPEKKHA]
88. One who wants to develop equanimity must have already obtained
the triple or quadruple jhana in lovingkindness, and so on. He should
emerge from the third jhana [in the fourfold reckoning], after he has
made it familiar, and he should see danger in the former [three divine
abidings] because they are linked with attention given to beings' enjoy-
ment in the way beginning 'May they be happy', because resentment and
approval are near, and because their association with joy is gross. And
he should also see the advantage in equanimity because it is peaceful.
Then he should arouse equanimity (upekkha) by looking on with equa-
nimity (ajjhupekkhitva) at a person who is normally neutral; after that at
a dear person, and the rest. For this is said: 'And how does a bhikkhu
dwell pervading one direction with his heart endued with equanimity?
Just as he would feel equanimity on seeing a person who was neither
beloved nor unloved, so he pervades all beings with equanimity' (Vbh.
275).
89. Therefore he should arouse equanimity towards the neutral person
in the way already stated. Then through the neutral one he should break
down the barriers in each case between the three people, that is, the dear
person, then the boon companion, and then the hostile one, and lastly
himself. And he should cultivate that sign, develop and repeatedly prac-
tise it.
90. As he does so the fourth jhana arises in him in the way described
under the earth kasina.
But how then? Does this arise in one in whom the third jhana has
already arisen on the basis of the earth kasina, etc.? It does not. Why
not? Because of the dissimilarity of the object. It arises only in one in
whom the third jhana has arisen on the basis of lovingkindness, etc.,
because the object is similar.
But after that the versatility and the obtaining of advantages should
be understood in the same way as described under lovingkindness.
This is the detailed explanation of the development of equanimity.
Showing posts with label samadhi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label samadhi. Show all posts
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Visuddhimagga - THE DIVINE ABIDINGS - Lovingkindness II
THE PATH
OF PURIFICATION
(VISUDDHIMAGGA)
BY
BHADANTACARIYA BUDDHAGHOSA
Translated from the Pali
by
BHIKKHU NANAMOLI
FIFTH EDITION
BUDDHIST PUBLICATION SOCIETY
Kandy Sri Lanka
35. 'And he performed not only these wonders but also many others too
such as those told in the Matuposaka Birth Story (Ja.iv,90). Now it is in
the highest degree improper and unbecoming to you to arouse thoughts
of resentment, since you are emulating as your Master that Blessed One
who reached omniscience and who has in the special quality of patience
no equal in the world with its deities'.
36. But if, as he reviews the special qualities of the Master's former
conduct, the resentment still does not subside in him, since he has long
been used to the slavery of defilement, then he should review the suttas
that deal with the beginninglessness [of the round of rebirths]. Here
is what is said: 'Bhikkhus, it is not easy to find a being who has not
formerly been your mother... your father... your brother... your sister...
your son ... your daughter' (S.ii, 189-90). Consequently he should think
about that person thus: 'This person, it seems, as my mother in the past
carried me in her womb for ten months and removed from me without
disgust, as if it were yellow sandalwood, my urine, excrement, spittle,
snot, etc., and played with me in her lap, and nourished me, carrying me
about on her hip. And this person as my father went by goat paths and
paths set on piles,
5
etc., to pursue the trade of merchant, and he risked
his life for me by going into battle in double array, by sailing on the
great ocean in ships and doing other difficult things, and he nourished
me by bringing back wealth by one means or another thinking to feed his
children. And as my brother, sister, son, daughter, this person gave me
such and such help. So it is unbecoming for me to harbour hate for him
in my mind*.
37. But if he is still unable to quench that thought in this way, then he
should review the advantages of lovingkindness thus: 'Now you who
have gone forth into homelessness, has it not been said by the Blessed
One as follows: "Bhikkhus, when the mind-deliverance of lovingkind-
ness is cultivated, developed, much practised, made the vehicle, made
the foundation, established, consolidated, and properly undertaken, eleven
blessings can be expected. What are the eleven? A man sleeps in com-
fort, wakes in comfort, and dreams no evil dreams, he is dear to human
beings, he is dear to non-human beings, deities guard him, fire and
poison and weapons do not affect him, his mind is easily concentrated,
the expression of his face is serene, he dies unconfused, if he penetrates
no higher he will be reborn in the Brahma-world" (A.v,342). [306] If
you do not stop this thought, you will be denied these advantages'.
38. But if he is still unable to stop it in this way, he should try resolution
into elements.'How? 'Now you who have gone forth into homelessness,
when you are angry with him, what is it you are angry with? Is it head
hairs you are angry with? Or body hairs? Or nails? ... Or is it urine you
are angry with? Or alternatively, is it the earth element in the head hairs,
etc., you are angry with? Or the water element? Or the fire element? Or
is it the air element you are angry with? Or among the five aggregates or
the twelve bases or the eighteen elements with respect to which this ven-
erable one is called by such and such a name, which then, is it the
materiality aggregate you are angry with? Or the feeling aggregate, the
perception aggregate, the formations aggregate, the consciousness aggre-
gate you are angry with? Or is it the eye base you are angry with? Or the
visible-object base you are angry with? ... Or the mind base you are
angry with? Or the mental-object base you are angry with? Or is it the
eye element you are angry with? Or the visible-object element? Or the
eye-consciousness element? ... Or the mind element? Or the mental-
object element? Or the mind-consciousness element you are angry with?'
For when he tries the resolution into elements, his anger finds no foot-
hold, like a mustard seed on the point of an awl or a painting on the air.
39. But if he cannot effect the resolution into elements, he should try the
giving of a gift. It can either be given by himself to the other or accepted
by himself from the other. But if the other's livelihood is not purified
and his requisites are not proper to be used, it should be given by one-
self. And in the one who does this the annoyance with that person en-
tirely subsides. And in the other even anger that has been dogging him
from a past birth subsides at the moment, as happened to the senior elder
who received a bowl given to him at the Cittalapabbata Monastery by an
almsfood-eater elder who had been three times made to move from his
lodging by him, and who presented it with these words: 'Venerable sir,
this bowl worth eight ducats was given me by my mother who is a lay
devotee, and it is rightly obtained; let the good lay devotee acquire
merit'. So efficacious is this act of giving. And this is said:
'A gift for taming the untamed,
A gift for every kind of good;
Through giving gifts they do unbend
And condescend to kindly speech'. [307]
[The Breaking Down of the Barriers—The Sign]
40. When his resentment towards that hostile person has been thus al-
layed, then he can turn his mind with lovingkindness towards that person
too, just as towards the one who is dear, the very dear friend, and the
neutral person. Then he should break down the barriers by practising
lovingkindness over and over again, accomplishing mental impartiality
towards the four persons, that is to say, himself, the dear person, the neu-
tral person and the hostile person.
41. The characteristic of it is this. Suppose this person is sitting in a
place with a dear, a neutral, and a hostile person, himself being the
fourth; then bandits come to him and say, 'Venerable sir, give us a
bhikkhu', and on being asked why, they answer, 'So that we may kill
him and use the blood of his throat as an offering'; then if that bhikkhu
thinks, 'Let them take this one, or this one', he has not broken down the
barriers. And also if he thinks, 'Let them take me but not these three', he
has not broken down the barriers either. Why? Because he seeks the
harm of him whom he wishes to be taken and seeks the welfare of the
others only. But it is when he does not see a single one among the four
people to be given to the bandits and he directs his mind impartially
towards himself and towards those three people that he has broken down
the barriers. Hence the Ancients said:
42. 'When he discriminates between
The four, that is himself, the dear,
The neutral, and the hostile one,
Then "skilled" is not the name he gets,
Nor "having amity at will",
But only "kindly towards beings".
'Now when a bhikkhu's barriers
Have all the four been broken down,
He treats with equal amity
The whole world with its deities;
Far more distinguished than the first
Is he who knows no barriers'.
43. Thus the sign and access are obtained by this bhikkhu simultane-
ously with the breaking down of the barriers. But when breaking down
of the barriers has been effected, he reaches absorption in the way de-
scribed under the earth kasina without trouble by cultivating, develop-
ing, and repeatedly practising that same sign.
At this point he has attained the first jhana, which abandons five
factors, possesses five factors, is good in three ways, is endowed with
ten characteristics, and is accompanied by lovingkindness. And when
that has been obtained, then by cultivating, developing, and repeatedly
practising that same sign, he successively reaches the second and third
jhanas in the fourfold system, and the second, third and fourth in the
fivefold system. [308]
{Texts and Commentary]
44. Now it is by means of one of these jhanas beginning with the first
that he 'Dwells pervading (intent upon) one direction with his heart
endued with lovingkindness, likewise the second direction, likewise the
third direction, likewise the fourth direction, and so above, below, and
around; everywhere and equally he dwells pervading the entire world
with his heart endued with lovingkindness, abundant, exalted, measure-
less, free from enmity, and free from affliction' (Vbh. 272; D.i,250). For
this versatility comes about only in one whose consciousness has reached
absorption in the first jhana and the rest.
45. And here endued with lovingkindness means possessing lovingkind-
ness. With his heart (cetasa): with his mind (cittena). One direction: this
refers to any one direction in which a being is first discerned and means
pervasion of the beings included in that one direction. Pervading: touch-
ing, making his object. He dwells (viharati): he causes the occurrence of
an abiding (vihdra—dwelling or continuation) in postures that is devoted
to the divine abidings (see Ch. IV, §103). Likewise the second: just as he
dwells pervading any one direction among those beginning with the east-
ern one, so he does with the next one, and the third and the fourth, is the
meaning.
46. So above: in that same way in the upper direction is what is meant.
Below, around: so too the lower direction and the direction all round.
Herein, below is underneath, and around is in the intermediate direc-
tions. So he sends his heart full of lovingkindness back and forth in all
directions like a horse in a circus ground. Up to this point specified per*
vasion with lovingkindness is shown in the discernment of each direc-
tion separately.
47. Everywhere, etc., is said for the purpose of showing unspecified per-
vasion. Herein, everywhere means in all places. Equally (sabbattatdya):
to all classed as inferior, medium, superior, friendly, hostile, neutral,
etc., just as to oneself (attatd); equality with oneself (atta-samatd) with-
out making the distinction This is another being', is what is meant. Or
alternatively, equally (sabbattatdya) is with the whole state of the mind;
not reserving even a little, is what is meant. [309] Entire (sabbdvant):
possessing all beings (sabbasattavant); associated with all beings, is the
meaning. World is the world of beings.
48. Endued with lovingkindness is said again here in order to introduce
the synonyms beginning with abundant. Or alternatively, endued with
lovingkindness is repeated because the word likewise or the word so is
not repeated here as it was in the case of the [preceding] specified perva-
sion. Or alternatively, it is said as a way of concluding. And abundant
should be regarded here as abundance in pervading. But it is exalted in
plane [from the sensual-sphere plane to the fine-material-sphere plane],
measureless through familiarity and through having measureless beings
as its object, free from enmity through abandonment of ill will and hos-
tility, and free from affliction through abandonment of grief; without suf-
fering, is what is meant. This is the meaning of the versatility described
in the way beginning 'With his heart endued with lovingkindness'.
49. And just as this versatility is successful only in one whose mind has
reached absorption, so too that described in the PatisambhidA should be
understood to be successful only in one whose mind has reached absorp-
tion, that is to say: *The mind-deliverance of lovingkindness is [prac-
tised] with unspecified pervasion in five ways. The mind-deliverance of
lovingkindness is [practised] with specified pervasion in seven ways.
The mind-deliverance of lovingkindness is [practised] with directional
pervasion in ten ways' (Ps.ii,130).
50. And herein, the mind-deliverance of lovingkindness is [practised]
with unspecified pervasion in these five ways: 'May all beings be free
from enmity, affliction and anxiety, and live happily. May all breathing
things ... all creatures ... all persons ... all those who have a personality
be free from enmity, affliction and anxiety, and live happily' (Ps.ii,130).
51. The mind-deliverance of lovingkindness is [practised] with speci-
fied pervasion in these seven ways: 'May all women be free from en-
mity, affliction and anxiety and live happily. May all men ... all noble
ones ... all not noble ones ... all deities ... all human beings ... all in states
of loss be free from enmity, affliction and anxiety, and live happily'
(Ps.ii,131).
52. The mind-deliverance of lovingkindness is [practised] with direc-
tional pervasion in these ten ways: 'May all beings in the eastern direc-
tion be free from enmity, affliction and anxiety, and live happily. May
all beings in the western direction ... northern direction... southern direc-
tion [310] ... eastern intermediate direction ... western intermediate di-
rection ... northern intermediate direction ... southern intermediate direc-
tion ... downward direction ... upward direction be free from enmity, af-
fliction and anxiety, and live happily. May all breathing things in the
eastern direction ... May all creatures in the eastern direction ... May all
persons in the eastern direction ... May all who have a personality in the
eastern direction ... [etc.]... in the upward direction be free from enmity,
affliction and anxiety, and live happily. May all women in the eastern
direction ... May all men in the eastern direction ... May all noble ones
in the eastern direction ... May all not noble ones in the eastern direction
... May all deities in the eastern direction ... May all human beings in the
eastern direction ... May all those in states of loss in the eastern direction
... [etc.] ... be free from enmity, affliction and anxiety, and live happily'
(Ps.ii,131).
53. Herein, all signifies inclusion without exception. Beings (satta): they
are held (satta), gripped (visatta) by desire and greed for the aggregates
beginning with materiality, thus they are beings (satta). For this is said
by the Blessed One: 'Any desire for matter, Radha, any greed for it, any
delight in it, any craving for it, has held (satta) it, has gripped (visatta) it,
that is why "a being" (satta) is said' (S.iii,190). But in ordinary speech
this term of common usage is applied also to those who are without
greed, just as the term of common usage 'palm fan' (tdlavanta) is used
for different sorts of fans [in general] even if made of split bamboo,
However, [in the world] etymologists (akkhara-cintaka) who do not
consider meaning have it that it is a mere name, while those who do
consider meaning have it that a 'being' (satta) is so called with reference
to the 'bright principle' (satta).
6
54. Breathing things (pdna): so called because of their state of breathing
(pdnanatd); the meaning is, because their existence depends on in-breaths
and out-breaths. Creatures (bhiita): so called because of being
(bhutatta = becomeness); the meaning is, because of their being fully be-
come {sambhutattaX because of their being generated (abhinibbattatta\
Persons (puggala): 'purn' is what hell is called; they fall (galanti) into
that, is the meaning. Personality (attabhdva) is what the physical body is
called; or it is just the pentad of aggregates, since it is actually only a
concept derived from that pentad of aggregates.
7
[What is referred to is]
included (pariydpanna) in that personality, thus it 'has a personality'
(attabhdva-pariydpanna). 'Included in' is delimited by; 'gone into' is
the meaning.
55. And all the remaining [terms] should be understood as synonyms for
'all beings' used in accordance with ordinary speech as in the case of the
term 'beings'. Of course, [311] there are other synonyms too for all
'beings', such as all 'folks', all 'souls', etc.; still it is for clarity's sake
that 'The mind-deliverance of lovingkindness is [practised] with un-
specified pervasion in five ways' is said and that only these five are
mentioned.
56. Those who would have it that there is not only a mere verbal differ-
ence between 'beings', 'breathing things', etc., but also an actual differ-
ence in meaning, are contradicted by the mention of unspecified perva-
sion. So instead of taking the meaning in that way, the unspecified per-
vasion with lovingkindness is done in any one of these five ways.
And here, may all beings be free from enmity is one absorption; free
from affliction is one absorption—free from affliction (abydbajjha) is
free from afflictedness (bydbddha-rahita);* free from anxiety is one ab-
sorption—free from anxiety is free from suffering; may they live happily
is one absorption. Consequently he should do his pervading with lov-
ingkindness according to whichever of these phrases is clear to him. So
with the four kinds of absorption in each of the five ways, there are
twenty kinds of absorption in unspecified pervasion.
57. In specified pervasion, with the four kinds of absorption in each of
the seven ways, there are twenty-eight kinds of absorption. And here
'woman' and 'man' are stated according to sex; 'noble ones' and 'not
noble ones' according to noble ones and ordinary people; 'deities' and
'human beings' and 'those in states of loss' according to the kind of
rebirth.
58. In directional pervasion, with twenty kinds of absorption in each of
the directions beginning with 'all beings in the eastern direction', there
are two hundred kinds of absorption; and with twenty-eight kinds in each
of the directions beginning with 'all woman in the eastern direction'
there are two hundred and eighty kinds; so these make four hundred and
eighty kinds of absorption. Consequently all the kinds of absorption
mentioned in the Patisambhida amount to five hundred and twenty-eight.
59. So when this meditator develops the mind-deliverance of lovingkind-
ness through any one of these kinds of absorption, he obtains the eleven
advantages described in the way beginning 'A man sleeps in comfort'
(§37).
60. Herein, sleeps in comfort means that instead of sleeping uncom-
fortably, turning over and snoring as other people do, he sleeps com-
fortably, he falls asleep as though entering upon an attainment.
61. He wakes in comfort: instead of waking uncomfortably, groaning
and yawning and turning over as others do, he wakes comfortably with-
out contortions, like a lotus opening. [312]
62. He dreams no evil dreams: when he sees dreams, he sees only
auspicious ones, as though he were worshipping a shrine, as though he
were making an offering, as though he were hearing the Dhamma. But
he does not see evil dreams as others do, as though being surrounded by
bandits, as though being threatened by wild beasts, as though falling into
chasms (see Ch. XIV, n.45).
63. He is dear to human beings: he is as dear to and beloved by human
beings as a necklace worn to hang on the chest, as a wreath adorning the
head.
64. He is dear to non-human beings: he is just as dear to non-human
beings as he is to human beings, as in the Elder VisAkha's case. He was
a landowner, it seems, at Pataliputta (Patna). While he was living there
he heard this: 'The Island of f ambapanni (Ceylon), apparently, is adorned
with a diadem of shrines and gleams with the yellow cloth, and there a
man can sit or lie wherever he likes; there the climate is favourable, the
abodes are favourable, the people are favourable, the Dhamma to be
heard is favourable, and all these favourable things are easily obtained
there'.
65. He made over his fortune to his wife and children and left his home
with only a single ducat (kahdpana) sewn into the hem of his garment.
He stopped for one month on the sea coast in expectation of a ship, and
meanwhile by his skill in trading he made a thousand during the month
by buying goods here and selling them there in lawful enterprise.
66. Eventually he came to the Great Monastery [(MahavihAra) at
AnurAdhapura], and there he asked for the going forth into homeless-
ness. When he was being conducted to the chapter house (simd) for the
going-forth ceremony, the purse containing the thousand pieces dropped
out from under his belt. When asked 'What is that?', he replied, 'It is a
thousand ducats, venerable sirs'. They told him, 'Lay follower, it is not
possible to distribute them after the going forth. Distribute them now*.
Then he said, 'Let none who have come to the scene of Visakha's going
forth depart empty-handed', and opening [the purse] he strewed them
over the chapter house yard, after which he received the going forth and
the full admission.
67. When he had acquired five years' seniority and had become familiar
with the two Codes (see Ch. Ill, §31), he celebrated the Pavdrand at the
end of the Rains, took a meditation subject that suited him, and set out to
wander, living for four months in each monastery and doing the duties
on a basis of equality with the residents. While he was wandering in this
way:
The elder halted in a wood
To scan the tenor of his way;
He thundered forth this roundelay
Proclaiming that he found it good:
'So from your full-admission day
Till in this place you paused and stood
No stumbling mars your bhikkhuhood;
Be thankful for such grace, I say'. [313]
68. On his way to Cittalapabbata he came to a road fork and stood won-
dering which turn to take. Then a deity living in a rock held out a hand
pointing out the road to him.
69. He came to the Cittalapabbata Monastery. After he had stayed there
for four months he lay down thinking, 'In the morning I depart'. Then a
deity living in a manila tree at the end of the walk sat down on a step of
the stair and burst into tears. The elder asked, 'Who is that?'.—'It is I,
Maniliya, venerable sir.'—'What are you weeping for?'—'Because you
are going away.'—'What good does my living here do you?'—'Vener-
able sir, as long as you live here non-human beings treat each other
kindly. Now when you are gone, they will start quarrels and loose talk.'
9
The elder said, 'If my living here makes you live at peace, that is good',
and so he stayed there another four months. Then he again thought of
leaving, but the deity wept as before. And so the elder lived on there,
and it was there that he attained nibbana.
This is how a bhikkhu who abides in lovingkindness is dear to non-
human beings.
70. Deities guard him: deities guard him as a mother and father guard
their child.
71. Fire, poison and weapons do not affect him: they do not affect, do
not enter into, the body of one who abides in lovingkindness, like the
fire in the case of the lay woman devotee Uttara (see Ch. XII, §34 and
DhA.iii,310), like the poison in the case of the Samyutta reciter the Elder
Cula-Siva, like the knife in the case of the novice Sahkicca (see
DhA.ii,249); they do not disturb the body, is what is meant.
72. And they tell the story of the cow here too. A cow was giving milk
to her calf, it seems. A hunter, thinking 'I shall shoot her', flourished a
long-handled spear in his hand and flung it. It struck her body and
bounced off like a palm leaf—and that was owing neither to access nor
to absorption, but simply to the strength of her consciousness of love for
her calf. So mightily powerful is lovingkindness.
73. His mind is easily concentrated: the mind of one who abides in lov-
ingkindness is quickly concentrated, there is no sluggishness about it.
[314]
74. The expression of his face is serene: his face has a serene expres-
sion, like a palmyra fruit loosed from its stem.
75. He dies unconfiised: there is no dying deluded for one who abides in
lovingkindness. He passes away undeluded as if falling asleep.
76. If he penetrates no higher: if he is unable to reach higher than the
attainment of lovingkindness and attain Arahantship, then when he falls
from this life, he reappears in the Brahma-world as one who wakes up
from sleep.
This is the detailed explanation of the development of lovingkind-
ness / metta.
OF PURIFICATION
(VISUDDHIMAGGA)
BY
BHADANTACARIYA BUDDHAGHOSA
Translated from the Pali
by
BHIKKHU NANAMOLI
FIFTH EDITION
BUDDHIST PUBLICATION SOCIETY
Kandy Sri Lanka
35. 'And he performed not only these wonders but also many others too
such as those told in the Matuposaka Birth Story (Ja.iv,90). Now it is in
the highest degree improper and unbecoming to you to arouse thoughts
of resentment, since you are emulating as your Master that Blessed One
who reached omniscience and who has in the special quality of patience
no equal in the world with its deities'.
36. But if, as he reviews the special qualities of the Master's former
conduct, the resentment still does not subside in him, since he has long
been used to the slavery of defilement, then he should review the suttas
that deal with the beginninglessness [of the round of rebirths]. Here
is what is said: 'Bhikkhus, it is not easy to find a being who has not
formerly been your mother... your father... your brother... your sister...
your son ... your daughter' (S.ii, 189-90). Consequently he should think
about that person thus: 'This person, it seems, as my mother in the past
carried me in her womb for ten months and removed from me without
disgust, as if it were yellow sandalwood, my urine, excrement, spittle,
snot, etc., and played with me in her lap, and nourished me, carrying me
about on her hip. And this person as my father went by goat paths and
paths set on piles,
5
etc., to pursue the trade of merchant, and he risked
his life for me by going into battle in double array, by sailing on the
great ocean in ships and doing other difficult things, and he nourished
me by bringing back wealth by one means or another thinking to feed his
children. And as my brother, sister, son, daughter, this person gave me
such and such help. So it is unbecoming for me to harbour hate for him
in my mind*.
37. But if he is still unable to quench that thought in this way, then he
should review the advantages of lovingkindness thus: 'Now you who
have gone forth into homelessness, has it not been said by the Blessed
One as follows: "Bhikkhus, when the mind-deliverance of lovingkind-
ness is cultivated, developed, much practised, made the vehicle, made
the foundation, established, consolidated, and properly undertaken, eleven
blessings can be expected. What are the eleven? A man sleeps in com-
fort, wakes in comfort, and dreams no evil dreams, he is dear to human
beings, he is dear to non-human beings, deities guard him, fire and
poison and weapons do not affect him, his mind is easily concentrated,
the expression of his face is serene, he dies unconfused, if he penetrates
no higher he will be reborn in the Brahma-world" (A.v,342). [306] If
you do not stop this thought, you will be denied these advantages'.
38. But if he is still unable to stop it in this way, he should try resolution
into elements.'How? 'Now you who have gone forth into homelessness,
when you are angry with him, what is it you are angry with? Is it head
hairs you are angry with? Or body hairs? Or nails? ... Or is it urine you
are angry with? Or alternatively, is it the earth element in the head hairs,
etc., you are angry with? Or the water element? Or the fire element? Or
is it the air element you are angry with? Or among the five aggregates or
the twelve bases or the eighteen elements with respect to which this ven-
erable one is called by such and such a name, which then, is it the
materiality aggregate you are angry with? Or the feeling aggregate, the
perception aggregate, the formations aggregate, the consciousness aggre-
gate you are angry with? Or is it the eye base you are angry with? Or the
visible-object base you are angry with? ... Or the mind base you are
angry with? Or the mental-object base you are angry with? Or is it the
eye element you are angry with? Or the visible-object element? Or the
eye-consciousness element? ... Or the mind element? Or the mental-
object element? Or the mind-consciousness element you are angry with?'
For when he tries the resolution into elements, his anger finds no foot-
hold, like a mustard seed on the point of an awl or a painting on the air.
39. But if he cannot effect the resolution into elements, he should try the
giving of a gift. It can either be given by himself to the other or accepted
by himself from the other. But if the other's livelihood is not purified
and his requisites are not proper to be used, it should be given by one-
self. And in the one who does this the annoyance with that person en-
tirely subsides. And in the other even anger that has been dogging him
from a past birth subsides at the moment, as happened to the senior elder
who received a bowl given to him at the Cittalapabbata Monastery by an
almsfood-eater elder who had been three times made to move from his
lodging by him, and who presented it with these words: 'Venerable sir,
this bowl worth eight ducats was given me by my mother who is a lay
devotee, and it is rightly obtained; let the good lay devotee acquire
merit'. So efficacious is this act of giving. And this is said:
'A gift for taming the untamed,
A gift for every kind of good;
Through giving gifts they do unbend
And condescend to kindly speech'. [307]
[The Breaking Down of the Barriers—The Sign]
40. When his resentment towards that hostile person has been thus al-
layed, then he can turn his mind with lovingkindness towards that person
too, just as towards the one who is dear, the very dear friend, and the
neutral person. Then he should break down the barriers by practising
lovingkindness over and over again, accomplishing mental impartiality
towards the four persons, that is to say, himself, the dear person, the neu-
tral person and the hostile person.
41. The characteristic of it is this. Suppose this person is sitting in a
place with a dear, a neutral, and a hostile person, himself being the
fourth; then bandits come to him and say, 'Venerable sir, give us a
bhikkhu', and on being asked why, they answer, 'So that we may kill
him and use the blood of his throat as an offering'; then if that bhikkhu
thinks, 'Let them take this one, or this one', he has not broken down the
barriers. And also if he thinks, 'Let them take me but not these three', he
has not broken down the barriers either. Why? Because he seeks the
harm of him whom he wishes to be taken and seeks the welfare of the
others only. But it is when he does not see a single one among the four
people to be given to the bandits and he directs his mind impartially
towards himself and towards those three people that he has broken down
the barriers. Hence the Ancients said:
42. 'When he discriminates between
The four, that is himself, the dear,
The neutral, and the hostile one,
Then "skilled" is not the name he gets,
Nor "having amity at will",
But only "kindly towards beings".
'Now when a bhikkhu's barriers
Have all the four been broken down,
He treats with equal amity
The whole world with its deities;
Far more distinguished than the first
Is he who knows no barriers'.
43. Thus the sign and access are obtained by this bhikkhu simultane-
ously with the breaking down of the barriers. But when breaking down
of the barriers has been effected, he reaches absorption in the way de-
scribed under the earth kasina without trouble by cultivating, develop-
ing, and repeatedly practising that same sign.
At this point he has attained the first jhana, which abandons five
factors, possesses five factors, is good in three ways, is endowed with
ten characteristics, and is accompanied by lovingkindness. And when
that has been obtained, then by cultivating, developing, and repeatedly
practising that same sign, he successively reaches the second and third
jhanas in the fourfold system, and the second, third and fourth in the
fivefold system. [308]
{Texts and Commentary]
44. Now it is by means of one of these jhanas beginning with the first
that he 'Dwells pervading (intent upon) one direction with his heart
endued with lovingkindness, likewise the second direction, likewise the
third direction, likewise the fourth direction, and so above, below, and
around; everywhere and equally he dwells pervading the entire world
with his heart endued with lovingkindness, abundant, exalted, measure-
less, free from enmity, and free from affliction' (Vbh. 272; D.i,250). For
this versatility comes about only in one whose consciousness has reached
absorption in the first jhana and the rest.
45. And here endued with lovingkindness means possessing lovingkind-
ness. With his heart (cetasa): with his mind (cittena). One direction: this
refers to any one direction in which a being is first discerned and means
pervasion of the beings included in that one direction. Pervading: touch-
ing, making his object. He dwells (viharati): he causes the occurrence of
an abiding (vihdra—dwelling or continuation) in postures that is devoted
to the divine abidings (see Ch. IV, §103). Likewise the second: just as he
dwells pervading any one direction among those beginning with the east-
ern one, so he does with the next one, and the third and the fourth, is the
meaning.
46. So above: in that same way in the upper direction is what is meant.
Below, around: so too the lower direction and the direction all round.
Herein, below is underneath, and around is in the intermediate direc-
tions. So he sends his heart full of lovingkindness back and forth in all
directions like a horse in a circus ground. Up to this point specified per*
vasion with lovingkindness is shown in the discernment of each direc-
tion separately.
47. Everywhere, etc., is said for the purpose of showing unspecified per-
vasion. Herein, everywhere means in all places. Equally (sabbattatdya):
to all classed as inferior, medium, superior, friendly, hostile, neutral,
etc., just as to oneself (attatd); equality with oneself (atta-samatd) with-
out making the distinction This is another being', is what is meant. Or
alternatively, equally (sabbattatdya) is with the whole state of the mind;
not reserving even a little, is what is meant. [309] Entire (sabbdvant):
possessing all beings (sabbasattavant); associated with all beings, is the
meaning. World is the world of beings.
48. Endued with lovingkindness is said again here in order to introduce
the synonyms beginning with abundant. Or alternatively, endued with
lovingkindness is repeated because the word likewise or the word so is
not repeated here as it was in the case of the [preceding] specified perva-
sion. Or alternatively, it is said as a way of concluding. And abundant
should be regarded here as abundance in pervading. But it is exalted in
plane [from the sensual-sphere plane to the fine-material-sphere plane],
measureless through familiarity and through having measureless beings
as its object, free from enmity through abandonment of ill will and hos-
tility, and free from affliction through abandonment of grief; without suf-
fering, is what is meant. This is the meaning of the versatility described
in the way beginning 'With his heart endued with lovingkindness'.
49. And just as this versatility is successful only in one whose mind has
reached absorption, so too that described in the PatisambhidA should be
understood to be successful only in one whose mind has reached absorp-
tion, that is to say: *The mind-deliverance of lovingkindness is [prac-
tised] with unspecified pervasion in five ways. The mind-deliverance of
lovingkindness is [practised] with specified pervasion in seven ways.
The mind-deliverance of lovingkindness is [practised] with directional
pervasion in ten ways' (Ps.ii,130).
50. And herein, the mind-deliverance of lovingkindness is [practised]
with unspecified pervasion in these five ways: 'May all beings be free
from enmity, affliction and anxiety, and live happily. May all breathing
things ... all creatures ... all persons ... all those who have a personality
be free from enmity, affliction and anxiety, and live happily' (Ps.ii,130).
51. The mind-deliverance of lovingkindness is [practised] with speci-
fied pervasion in these seven ways: 'May all women be free from en-
mity, affliction and anxiety and live happily. May all men ... all noble
ones ... all not noble ones ... all deities ... all human beings ... all in states
of loss be free from enmity, affliction and anxiety, and live happily'
(Ps.ii,131).
52. The mind-deliverance of lovingkindness is [practised] with direc-
tional pervasion in these ten ways: 'May all beings in the eastern direc-
tion be free from enmity, affliction and anxiety, and live happily. May
all beings in the western direction ... northern direction... southern direc-
tion [310] ... eastern intermediate direction ... western intermediate di-
rection ... northern intermediate direction ... southern intermediate direc-
tion ... downward direction ... upward direction be free from enmity, af-
fliction and anxiety, and live happily. May all breathing things in the
eastern direction ... May all creatures in the eastern direction ... May all
persons in the eastern direction ... May all who have a personality in the
eastern direction ... [etc.]... in the upward direction be free from enmity,
affliction and anxiety, and live happily. May all women in the eastern
direction ... May all men in the eastern direction ... May all noble ones
in the eastern direction ... May all not noble ones in the eastern direction
... May all deities in the eastern direction ... May all human beings in the
eastern direction ... May all those in states of loss in the eastern direction
... [etc.] ... be free from enmity, affliction and anxiety, and live happily'
(Ps.ii,131).
53. Herein, all signifies inclusion without exception. Beings (satta): they
are held (satta), gripped (visatta) by desire and greed for the aggregates
beginning with materiality, thus they are beings (satta). For this is said
by the Blessed One: 'Any desire for matter, Radha, any greed for it, any
delight in it, any craving for it, has held (satta) it, has gripped (visatta) it,
that is why "a being" (satta) is said' (S.iii,190). But in ordinary speech
this term of common usage is applied also to those who are without
greed, just as the term of common usage 'palm fan' (tdlavanta) is used
for different sorts of fans [in general] even if made of split bamboo,
However, [in the world] etymologists (akkhara-cintaka) who do not
consider meaning have it that it is a mere name, while those who do
consider meaning have it that a 'being' (satta) is so called with reference
to the 'bright principle' (satta).
6
54. Breathing things (pdna): so called because of their state of breathing
(pdnanatd); the meaning is, because their existence depends on in-breaths
and out-breaths. Creatures (bhiita): so called because of being
(bhutatta = becomeness); the meaning is, because of their being fully be-
come {sambhutattaX because of their being generated (abhinibbattatta\
Persons (puggala): 'purn' is what hell is called; they fall (galanti) into
that, is the meaning. Personality (attabhdva) is what the physical body is
called; or it is just the pentad of aggregates, since it is actually only a
concept derived from that pentad of aggregates.
7
[What is referred to is]
included (pariydpanna) in that personality, thus it 'has a personality'
(attabhdva-pariydpanna). 'Included in' is delimited by; 'gone into' is
the meaning.
55. And all the remaining [terms] should be understood as synonyms for
'all beings' used in accordance with ordinary speech as in the case of the
term 'beings'. Of course, [311] there are other synonyms too for all
'beings', such as all 'folks', all 'souls', etc.; still it is for clarity's sake
that 'The mind-deliverance of lovingkindness is [practised] with un-
specified pervasion in five ways' is said and that only these five are
mentioned.
56. Those who would have it that there is not only a mere verbal differ-
ence between 'beings', 'breathing things', etc., but also an actual differ-
ence in meaning, are contradicted by the mention of unspecified perva-
sion. So instead of taking the meaning in that way, the unspecified per-
vasion with lovingkindness is done in any one of these five ways.
And here, may all beings be free from enmity is one absorption; free
from affliction is one absorption—free from affliction (abydbajjha) is
free from afflictedness (bydbddha-rahita);* free from anxiety is one ab-
sorption—free from anxiety is free from suffering; may they live happily
is one absorption. Consequently he should do his pervading with lov-
ingkindness according to whichever of these phrases is clear to him. So
with the four kinds of absorption in each of the five ways, there are
twenty kinds of absorption in unspecified pervasion.
57. In specified pervasion, with the four kinds of absorption in each of
the seven ways, there are twenty-eight kinds of absorption. And here
'woman' and 'man' are stated according to sex; 'noble ones' and 'not
noble ones' according to noble ones and ordinary people; 'deities' and
'human beings' and 'those in states of loss' according to the kind of
rebirth.
58. In directional pervasion, with twenty kinds of absorption in each of
the directions beginning with 'all beings in the eastern direction', there
are two hundred kinds of absorption; and with twenty-eight kinds in each
of the directions beginning with 'all woman in the eastern direction'
there are two hundred and eighty kinds; so these make four hundred and
eighty kinds of absorption. Consequently all the kinds of absorption
mentioned in the Patisambhida amount to five hundred and twenty-eight.
59. So when this meditator develops the mind-deliverance of lovingkind-
ness through any one of these kinds of absorption, he obtains the eleven
advantages described in the way beginning 'A man sleeps in comfort'
(§37).
60. Herein, sleeps in comfort means that instead of sleeping uncom-
fortably, turning over and snoring as other people do, he sleeps com-
fortably, he falls asleep as though entering upon an attainment.
61. He wakes in comfort: instead of waking uncomfortably, groaning
and yawning and turning over as others do, he wakes comfortably with-
out contortions, like a lotus opening. [312]
62. He dreams no evil dreams: when he sees dreams, he sees only
auspicious ones, as though he were worshipping a shrine, as though he
were making an offering, as though he were hearing the Dhamma. But
he does not see evil dreams as others do, as though being surrounded by
bandits, as though being threatened by wild beasts, as though falling into
chasms (see Ch. XIV, n.45).
63. He is dear to human beings: he is as dear to and beloved by human
beings as a necklace worn to hang on the chest, as a wreath adorning the
head.
64. He is dear to non-human beings: he is just as dear to non-human
beings as he is to human beings, as in the Elder VisAkha's case. He was
a landowner, it seems, at Pataliputta (Patna). While he was living there
he heard this: 'The Island of f ambapanni (Ceylon), apparently, is adorned
with a diadem of shrines and gleams with the yellow cloth, and there a
man can sit or lie wherever he likes; there the climate is favourable, the
abodes are favourable, the people are favourable, the Dhamma to be
heard is favourable, and all these favourable things are easily obtained
there'.
65. He made over his fortune to his wife and children and left his home
with only a single ducat (kahdpana) sewn into the hem of his garment.
He stopped for one month on the sea coast in expectation of a ship, and
meanwhile by his skill in trading he made a thousand during the month
by buying goods here and selling them there in lawful enterprise.
66. Eventually he came to the Great Monastery [(MahavihAra) at
AnurAdhapura], and there he asked for the going forth into homeless-
ness. When he was being conducted to the chapter house (simd) for the
going-forth ceremony, the purse containing the thousand pieces dropped
out from under his belt. When asked 'What is that?', he replied, 'It is a
thousand ducats, venerable sirs'. They told him, 'Lay follower, it is not
possible to distribute them after the going forth. Distribute them now*.
Then he said, 'Let none who have come to the scene of Visakha's going
forth depart empty-handed', and opening [the purse] he strewed them
over the chapter house yard, after which he received the going forth and
the full admission.
67. When he had acquired five years' seniority and had become familiar
with the two Codes (see Ch. Ill, §31), he celebrated the Pavdrand at the
end of the Rains, took a meditation subject that suited him, and set out to
wander, living for four months in each monastery and doing the duties
on a basis of equality with the residents. While he was wandering in this
way:
The elder halted in a wood
To scan the tenor of his way;
He thundered forth this roundelay
Proclaiming that he found it good:
'So from your full-admission day
Till in this place you paused and stood
No stumbling mars your bhikkhuhood;
Be thankful for such grace, I say'. [313]
68. On his way to Cittalapabbata he came to a road fork and stood won-
dering which turn to take. Then a deity living in a rock held out a hand
pointing out the road to him.
69. He came to the Cittalapabbata Monastery. After he had stayed there
for four months he lay down thinking, 'In the morning I depart'. Then a
deity living in a manila tree at the end of the walk sat down on a step of
the stair and burst into tears. The elder asked, 'Who is that?'.—'It is I,
Maniliya, venerable sir.'—'What are you weeping for?'—'Because you
are going away.'—'What good does my living here do you?'—'Vener-
able sir, as long as you live here non-human beings treat each other
kindly. Now when you are gone, they will start quarrels and loose talk.'
9
The elder said, 'If my living here makes you live at peace, that is good',
and so he stayed there another four months. Then he again thought of
leaving, but the deity wept as before. And so the elder lived on there,
and it was there that he attained nibbana.
This is how a bhikkhu who abides in lovingkindness is dear to non-
human beings.
70. Deities guard him: deities guard him as a mother and father guard
their child.
71. Fire, poison and weapons do not affect him: they do not affect, do
not enter into, the body of one who abides in lovingkindness, like the
fire in the case of the lay woman devotee Uttara (see Ch. XII, §34 and
DhA.iii,310), like the poison in the case of the Samyutta reciter the Elder
Cula-Siva, like the knife in the case of the novice Sahkicca (see
DhA.ii,249); they do not disturb the body, is what is meant.
72. And they tell the story of the cow here too. A cow was giving milk
to her calf, it seems. A hunter, thinking 'I shall shoot her', flourished a
long-handled spear in his hand and flung it. It struck her body and
bounced off like a palm leaf—and that was owing neither to access nor
to absorption, but simply to the strength of her consciousness of love for
her calf. So mightily powerful is lovingkindness.
73. His mind is easily concentrated: the mind of one who abides in lov-
ingkindness is quickly concentrated, there is no sluggishness about it.
[314]
74. The expression of his face is serene: his face has a serene expres-
sion, like a palmyra fruit loosed from its stem.
75. He dies unconfiised: there is no dying deluded for one who abides in
lovingkindness. He passes away undeluded as if falling asleep.
76. If he penetrates no higher: if he is unable to reach higher than the
attainment of lovingkindness and attain Arahantship, then when he falls
from this life, he reappears in the Brahma-world as one who wakes up
from sleep.
This is the detailed explanation of the development of lovingkind-
ness / metta.
Visuddhimagga - THE DIVINE ABIDINGS - Lovingkindness I
THE PATH
OF PURIFICATION
(VISUDDHIMAGGA)
BY
BHADANTACARIYA BUDDHAGHOSA
Translated from the Pali
by
BHIKKHU NANAMOLI
FIFTH EDITION
BUDDHIST PUBLICATION SOCIETY
Kandy Sri Lanka
CHAPTER IX
THE DIVINE ABIDINGS
(Brahmavihara-niddesa)
[(1) LOVINGKINDNESS / METTA]
1. [295] The four divine abidings were mentioned next to the recollec-
tions as meditation subjects (Ch. IE, §105). They are lovingkindness,
compassion, gladness and equanimity. A meditator who wants to de-
velop firstly lovingkindness among these, if he is a beginner, should
sever the impediments and learn the meditation subject. Then, when he
has done the work connected with the meal and got rid of any dizziness
due to it, he should seat himself comfortably on a well-prepared seat in a
secluded place. To start with, he should review the danger in hate and
the advantage in patience.
2. Why? Because hate has to be abandoned and patience attained in the
development of this meditation subject, and he cannot abandon unseen
dangers and attain unknown advantages.
Now the danger in hate should be seen in accordance with such
suttas as this: 'Friends, when a man hates, is a prey to hate and his mind
is obsessed by hate, he kills living things, and ...' (A.i,216). And the ad-
vantage in patience should be understood according to such suttas as
these:
'No higher rule, the Buddhas say, than patience,
And no nibbana higher than forbearance' (D.ii,49; Dh.184);
'Patience in force, in strong array:
'Tis him I call a brahman' (Dh. 399);
'No greater thing exists than patience' (S.i,222).
3. Thereupon he should embark upon the development of lovingkind-
ness for the purpose of secluding the mind from hate seen as a danger
and introducing it to patience known as an advantage.
But when he begins, he must know that some persons are of the
wrong sort at the very beginning and that lovingkindness should be
developed towards certain kinds of persons and not towards certain other
kinds at first. [296]
4. For lovingkindness should not be developed at first towards the fol-
lowing four kinds of persons: an antipathetic person, a very dearly loved
friend, a neutral person, and a hostile person. Also it should not be
developed specifically (see §49) towards the opposite sex, or towards a
dead person.
5. What is the reason why it should not be developed at first towards
an antipathetic person and the others? To put an antipathetic person in a
dear one's place is fatiguing. To put a very dearly loved friend in a
neutral person's place is fatiguing; and if the slightest mischance befalls
the friend, he feels like weeping. To put a neutral person in a respected
one's or a dear one's place is fatiguing. Anger springs up in him if he
recollects a hostile person. That is why it should not be developed at first
towards an antipathetic person and the rest.
6. Then, if he develops it specifically towards the opposite sex, lust
inspired by that person springs up in him. An elder supported by a
family was asked, it seems, by a friend's son, 'Venerable sir, towards
whom should lovingkindness be developed?' The elder told him, To-
wards a person one loves'. He loved his own wife. Through developing
lovingkindness towards her he was fighting against the wall all the night.
1
That is why it should not be developed specifically towards the opposite
sex.
7. But if he develops it towards a dead person, he reaches neither ab-
sorption nor access. A young bhikkhu, it seems, had started developing
lovingkindness inspired by his teacher. His lovingkindness made no head-
way at all. He went to a senior elder and told him, 'Venerable sir, I am
quite familiar with attaining jhana through lovingkindness, and yet I
cannot attain it. What is the matter?'. The elder said, 'Seek the sign,
friend, [the object of your meditation]'. He did so. Finding that his
teacher had died, he proceeded with developing lovingkindness inspired
by another and attained absorption. That is why it should not be devel-
oped towards one who is dead.
8. First of all it should be developed only towards oneself, doing it
repeatedly thus: 'May I be happy and free from suffering' or 'May I
keep myself free from enmity, affliction and anxiety and live happily'.
9. If that is so, does it not conflict with what is said in the texts? For
there is no mention of any development of it towards oneself in what is
said in the Vibhahga: 'And how does a bhikkhu dwell pervading one
direction with his heart filled with lovingkindness? Just as he would feel
lovingkindness on seeing a dearly loved person, so he pervades all beings
with lovingkindness' (Vbh. 272); and in what is said in the Patisambhida:
'In what five ways is the mind-deliverance of lovingkindness [practised]
with unspecified pervasion? May all beings be free from enmity, afflic-
tion and anxiety and live happily. May all breathing things [297] ... all
who are born ... all persons ... all those who have a personality be free
from enmity, affliction and anxiety and live happily' (Ps.ii,130); and in
what is said in the Metta Sutta: 'In joy and safety may all beings be
joyful at heart' (Sn. 145). [Does it not conflict with those texts?]
10. It does not conflict. Why not? Because that refers to absorption. But
this [initial development towards oneself] refers to [making oneself] an
example. For even if he developed lovingkindness for a hundred or a
thousand years in this way, 'I am happy' and so on, absorption would
never arise. But if he develops it in this way: * I am happy. Just as I want
to be happy and dread pain, as I want to live and not to die, so do other
beings, too', making himself the example, then desire for other beings'
welfare and happiness arises in him. And this method is indicated by the
Blessed One's saying:
* I visited all quarters with my mind
Nor found I any dearer than myself;
Self is likewise to every other dear;
Who loves himself will never harm another' (S.i,75; Ud. 47).
11. So he should first, as example, pervade himself with lovingkindness.
Next after that, in order to proceed easily, he can recollect such gifts,
2
kind words, etc., as inspire love and endearment, such virtue, learning,
etc., as inspire respect and reverence met with in a teacher or his equiva-
lent or a preceptor or his equivalent, developing lovingkindness towards
him in the way beginning *May this good man be happy and free from
suffering'. With such a person, of course, he attains absorption.
12. But if this bhikkhu does not rest content with just that much and
wants to break down the barriers, he should next, after that, develop lov-
ingkindness towards a very dearly loved friend, then towards a neutral
person as a very dearly loved friend, then towards a hostile person as
neutral. And while he does so, he should make his mind malleable and
wieldy in each instance before passing on to the next.
13. But if he has no enemy, or he is of the type of a great man who does
not perceive another as an enemy even when the other does him harm,
he should not interest himself as follows: 'Now that my consciousness of
lovingkindness has become wieldy towards a neutral person, I shall ap-
ply it to a hostile one'. [298] Rather it was about one who actually has an
enemy that it was said above that he should develop lovingkindness
towards a hostile person as neutral.
[Getting Rid of Resentment]
14. If resentment arises in him when he applies his mind to a hostile
person because he remembers wrongs done by that person, he should get
rid of the resentment by entering repeatedly into lovingkindness [jhana]
towards any of the first-mentioned persons and then, after he has emerged
each time, directing lovingkindness towards that person.
15. But if it does not die out in spite of his efforts, then:
Let him reflect upon the saw
With other figures of such kind,
And strive, and strive repeatedly,
To leave resentment far behind.
He should admonish himself in this way:
4
Now, you who get angry, has
not the Blessed One said this: "Bhikkhus, even if bandits brutally sev-
ered limb from limb with a two-handled saw, he who entertained hate in
his heart on that account would not be one who carried out my teaching"
(M.i,129)? And this:
"To repay angry men in kind
Is worse than to be angry first;
Repay not angry men in kind
And win a battle hard to win.
"The weal of both he does promote,
His own and then the other's too,
Who shall another's anger know
And mindfully maintain his peace" (S.i,162)?
And this: "Bhikkhus, there are seven things gratifying and helpful to an
enemy that happen to one who is angry, whether woman or man. What
seven? Here, bhikkhus, an enemy wishes thus for his enemy, *Let him be
ugly!'. Why is that? An enemy does not delight in an enemy's beauty.
Now this angry person is a prey to anger, ruled by anger; though well
bathed, well anointed, with hair and beard trimmed and clothed in white,
yet he is ugly, being a prey to anger. This is the first thing gratifying and
helpful to an enemy that befalls one who is angry, whether woman or
man. Furthermore, an enemy wishes thus for his enemy, 'Let him lie in
pain!'... *Let him have no good fortune!' ... 'Let him not be wealthy!'...
'Let him not be famous!'... 'Let him have no friends!' [299]...
4
Let him
not on the breakup of the body, after death, reappear in a happy destiny
in the heavenly world!'.
3
Why is that? An enemy does not delight in an
enemy's going to a happy destiny. Now this angry person is a prey to
anger, ruled by anger, he misconducts himself in body, speech and mind.
Misconducting himself thus in body, speech and mind, on the breakup of
the body, after death, he reappears in a state of loss, in an unhappy
destiny, in perdition, in hell, being a prey to anger" (A.iv,94)? And this:
"As a log from a pyre, burnt at both ends and fouled in the middle,
serves neither for timber in the village nor for timber in the forest, so is
such a person as this I say" (A.ii,95, Iti. 90)? If you are angry now, you
will be one who does not carry out the Blessed One's teaching; by
repaying an angry man in kind you will be worse than the angry man and
not win the battle hard to win; you will yourself do to yourself the things
that help your enemy; and you will be like a pyre log'.
16. If his resentment subsides when he strives and makes effort in this
way, it is good. If not, then he should remove irritation by remembering
some controlled and purified state in that person, which inspires confi-
dence when remembered.
17. For one person may be controlled in his bodily behaviour with his
control in doing an extensive course of duty known to all, though his
verbal and mental behaviour are not controlled. Then the latter should be
ignored and the control in his bodily behaviour remembered.
18. Another may be controlled in his verbal behaviour, and his control
known to all—he may naturally be clever at welcoming kindly, easy to
talk with, congenial, open-countenanced, deferential in speech, and he
may expound the Dhamma with a sweet voice and give explanations of
Dhamma with well-rounded phrases and details—though his bodily and
mental behaviour are not controlled. Then the latter should be ignored
and the control in his verbal behaviour remembered.
19. Another may be controlled in his mental behaviour, and his control
in worshipping at shrines, etc., evident to all. For when one who is
uncontrolled in mind pays homage at a shrine or at an Enlightenment
Tree or to elders, he does not do it carefully, [300] and he sits in the
Dhamma-preaching pavilion with mind astray or nodding, while one
whose mind is controlled pays homage carefully and deliberately, listens
to the Dhamma attentively, remembering it, and evincing the confidence
in his mind through his body or his speech. So another may be only
controlled in his mental behaviour, though his bodily and verbal behav-
iour are not controlled. Then the latter should be ignored and the control
in his mental behaviour remembered.
20. But there may be another in whom not even one of these three
things is controlled. Then compassion for that person should be aroused
thus: 'Though he is going about in the human world now, nevertheless
after a certain number of days he will find himself in [one of] the eight
great hells or the sixteen prominent hells'.
4
For irritation subsides too
through compassion. In yet another all three may be controlled. Then he
can remember any of the three in that person, whichever he likes; for the
development of lovingkindness towards such a person is easy.
21. And in order to make the meaning of this clear the following sutta
from the Book of Fives should be cited in full: 'Bhikkhus, there are five
ways of dispelling annoyance whereby annoyance arisen in a bhikkhu
can be entirely dispelled' (A.iii, 186-90).
22. But if irritation still arises in him in spite of his efforts, then he
should admonish himself thus:
'Suppose an enemy has hurt
You now in what is his domain,
Why try yourself as well to hurt
Your mind?—That is not his domain.
'In tears you left your family.
They had been kind and helpful too.
So why not leave your enemy,
The anger that brings harm to you?
'This anger that you entertain
Is gnawing at the very roots
Of all the virtues that you guard—
Who is there such a fool as you?
'Another does ignoble deeds,
So you are angry—How is this?
Do you then want to copy too
The sort of acts that he commits?
'Suppose another, to annoy,
Provokes you with some odious act,
Why suffer anger to spring up,
And do as he would have you do?
'If you get angry, then maybe
You make him suffer, maybe not;
Though with the hurt that anger brings
You certainly are punished now.
'If anger-blinded enemies
Set out to tread the path of woe,
Do you by getting angry too
Intend to follow heel to toe?
'If hurt is done you by a foe
Because of anger on your part,
Then put your anger down, for why
Should you be harassed groundlessly? [301]
'Since states last but a moment's time
Those aggregates, by which was done
The odious act, have ceased, so now
What is it you are angry with?
'Whom shall he hurt, who seeks to hurt
Another, in the other's absence?
Your presence is the cause of hurt;
Why are you angry, then, with him?'
23. But if resentment does not subside when he admonishes himself
thus, then he should review the fact that he himself and the other are
owners of their deeds (kamma).
Herein, he should first review this in himself thus: *Now what is the
point of your getting angry with him? Will not this kamma of yours that
has anger as its source lead to your own harm? For you are the owner of
your deeds, heir of your deeds, having deeds as your parent, deeds as
your kin, deeds as your refuge; you will become the heir of whatever
deeds you do (see A.iii,186). And this is not the kind of deed to bring
you to full enlightenment, to undeclared enlightenment or to the dis-
ciple's grade, or to any such position as the status of Brahma or Sakka,
or the throne of a Wheel-turning Monarch or a regional king, etc.; but
rather this is the kind of deed to lead to your fall from the Dispensation,
even to the status of the eaters of scraps, etc., and to the manifold
suffering in the hells, and so on. By doing this you are like a man who
wants to hit another and picks up a burning ember or excrement in his
hand and so first burns himself or makes himself stink'.
24. Having reviewed ownership of deeds in himself in this way, he
should review it in the other also: *And what is the point of his getting
angry with you? Will it not lead to his own harm? For that venerable one
is owner of his deeds, heir of his deeds ... he will become the heir of
whatever deeds he does. And this is not the kind of deed to bring him to
full enlightenment, to undeclared enlightenment or to the disciple's grade,
or to any such position as the status of Brahma or Sakka, or to the throne
of a Wheel-turning Monarch or a regional king, etc.; but rather this is the
kind of deed to lead to his fall from the Dispensation, even to the status
of the eaters of scraps, etc., and to the manifold suffering in the hells,
and so on. By doing this he is like a man who wants to throw dust at
another against the wind and only covers himself with it'. For this is said
by the Blessed One:
'When a fool hates a man that has no hate,
Is purified and free from every blemish, [302]
Such evil he will find comes back on him,
As does fine dust thrown up against the wind' (Dh. 125).
25. But if it still does not subside in him when he reviews ownership of
deeds in this way, then he should review the special qualities of the
Master's former conduct.
26. Here is the way of reviewing it: *Now you who have gone forth, is it
not a fact that when your Master was a Bodhisatta before discovering
full enlightenment, while he was still engaged in fulfilling the perfec-
tions during the four incalculable ages and a hundred thousand aeons, he
did not allow hate to corrupt his mind even when his enemies tried to
murder him on various occasions?
27. Tor example, in the Silavant Birth Story (Ja.i,261) when his friends
rose to prevent his kingdom of three hundred leagues being seized by an
enemy king who had been incited by a wicked minister in whose mind
his own queen had sown hate for him, he did not allow them to lift a
weapon. Again when he was buried, along with a thousand companions,
up to the neck in a hole dug in the earth in a charnel ground, he had no
thought of hate. And when, after saving his life by a heroic effort helped
by jackals scraping away soil when they had come to devour the corpses,
he went with the aid of a spirit to his own bedroom and saw his enemy
lying on his own bed, he was not angry but treated him as a friend,
undertaking a mutual pledge, and he then exclaimed:
"The brave aspire, the wise will not lose heart;
I see myself as I had wished to be" (Ja.i,267).
28. * And in the Khantivadin Birth Story he was asked by the stupid king
of Kasi (Benares), "What do you preach, monk?", and he replied, "I am
a preacher of patience"; and when the king had him flogged with scourges
of thorns and had his hands and feet cut off, he felt not the slightest
anger (see Ja.iii,39).
29. 'It is perhaps not so wonderful that an adult who had actually gone
forth into homelessness should have acted in that way; but also as an
infant he did so. For in the Cula-Dhammapala Birth Story his hands and
feet were ordered to be lopped off like four bamboo shoots by his father,
King Mahapatapa, and his mother lamented over him thus:
"Oh, Dhammapala's arms are severed
That had been bathed in sandalwood;
He was the heir to all the earth:
O king, my breath is choking me!" (Ja.iii,181). [303]
*Then his father, still not satisfied, commanded that his head be cut
off as well. But even then he had not the least trace of hate, since he had
firmly resolved thus: "Now is the time to restrain your mind; now, good
Dhammapala, be impartial towards these four persons, that is to say,
towards your father who is having your head cut off, the man who is
beheading you, your lamenting mother, and yourself.
30. 'And it is perhaps not so wonderful that one who had become a
human being should have acted in that way; but also as an animal he did
so. For while the Bodhisatta was the elephant called Chaddanta he was
pierced in the navel by a poisoned shaft. But even then he allowed no
hate towards the hunter who had wounded him to corrupt his mind,
according as it is said:
"The elephant, when struck by the stout shaft,
Addressed the hunter with no hate in mind:
'What is your aim? What is the reason why
You kill me thus? What can your purpose be?' " (Ja.v,51).
'And when the elephant had spoken thus and was told, "Sir, I have
been sent by the king of Kasi's queen to get your tusks", in order to fulfil
her wish he cut off his own tusks whose gorgeous radiance glittered with
the flashes of the six-coloured rays and gave them to him.
31. 'And when he was the Great Monkey, the man whom he had pulled
out of a rocky chasm thought:
"Now this is food for human kind
Like other forest animals,
So why then should a hungry man
Not kill the ape to eat? [I ask.]
1*1 1 travel independently
Taking his meat as a provision;
Thus I shall cross the waste, and that
Will furnish my viaticum" (Ja.v,71).
Then he took up a stone and dashed it on his head. But the monkey
looked at him with eyes full of tears and said:
"Oh, act not so, good sir, or else
The fate you reap will long deter
All others from such deeds as this
That you would do to me today" (Ja.v,71).
And with no hate in his mind and regardless of his own pain he saw to it
that the man reached his journey's end in safety.
32. 'And while he was the royal naga (serpent) Bhuridatta, [304] when
he had undertaken the Uposatha precepts and was lying on the top of an
ant-hill, though he was [caught and] sprinkled with medicinal charms
resembling the fire that ushers in the end of an aeon, and was put into a
box and treated as a plaything throughout the whole of Jambudipa, yet
he had no trace of hate for that brahman, according as it is said:
"While being put into the coffer
And being crushed down with his hand,
I had no hate for Alambana
Lest I should break my precept vow" (Cp. 85)'.
33. 'And when he was the royal naga Campeyya he let no hate spring
up in his mind while he was being cruelly treated by a snake charmer,
according as it is said:
"While I was living in the Law
Observing the Uposatha
A snake charmer took me away
To play with at the royal gate.
Whatever hue he might conceive,
Blue and yellow, and red as well,
So in accordance with his thought
I would become what he had wished;
I would turn dry land into water,
And water into land likewise.
Now had I given way to wrath
I could have seared him into ash,
Had I relaxed mind-mastery
I should have let my virtue lapse;
And one who lets his virtue lapse
Cannot attain the highest goal" (Cp. 85).
34. "And when he was the royal naga Sankhapala, while he was being
carried along on a carrying pole by the sixteen village boys after they
had wounded him in eight places with sharp spears and inserted thorn
creepers into the wounds' orifices, and while, after threading a strong
rope through his nose, they were causing him great agony by dragging
him along bumping his body on the surface of the ground, though he was
capable of turning those village boys to cinders with a mere glance, yet
he did not even show the least trace of hate on opening his eyes, accord-
ing as it is said:
"On the fourteenth and the fifteenth too, Alara,
I regularly kept the Holy Day,
Until there came those sixteen village boys
Bearing a rope and a stout spear as well.
The hunters cleft my nose, and through the slit
They passed a rope and dragged me off like that.
But though I felt such poignant agony,
I let no hate disturb my Holy Day" (Ja.v,172). [305]
OF PURIFICATION
(VISUDDHIMAGGA)
BY
BHADANTACARIYA BUDDHAGHOSA
Translated from the Pali
by
BHIKKHU NANAMOLI
FIFTH EDITION
BUDDHIST PUBLICATION SOCIETY
Kandy Sri Lanka
CHAPTER IX
THE DIVINE ABIDINGS
(Brahmavihara-niddesa)
[(1) LOVINGKINDNESS / METTA]
1. [295] The four divine abidings were mentioned next to the recollec-
tions as meditation subjects (Ch. IE, §105). They are lovingkindness,
compassion, gladness and equanimity. A meditator who wants to de-
velop firstly lovingkindness among these, if he is a beginner, should
sever the impediments and learn the meditation subject. Then, when he
has done the work connected with the meal and got rid of any dizziness
due to it, he should seat himself comfortably on a well-prepared seat in a
secluded place. To start with, he should review the danger in hate and
the advantage in patience.
2. Why? Because hate has to be abandoned and patience attained in the
development of this meditation subject, and he cannot abandon unseen
dangers and attain unknown advantages.
Now the danger in hate should be seen in accordance with such
suttas as this: 'Friends, when a man hates, is a prey to hate and his mind
is obsessed by hate, he kills living things, and ...' (A.i,216). And the ad-
vantage in patience should be understood according to such suttas as
these:
'No higher rule, the Buddhas say, than patience,
And no nibbana higher than forbearance' (D.ii,49; Dh.184);
'Patience in force, in strong array:
'Tis him I call a brahman' (Dh. 399);
'No greater thing exists than patience' (S.i,222).
3. Thereupon he should embark upon the development of lovingkind-
ness for the purpose of secluding the mind from hate seen as a danger
and introducing it to patience known as an advantage.
But when he begins, he must know that some persons are of the
wrong sort at the very beginning and that lovingkindness should be
developed towards certain kinds of persons and not towards certain other
kinds at first. [296]
4. For lovingkindness should not be developed at first towards the fol-
lowing four kinds of persons: an antipathetic person, a very dearly loved
friend, a neutral person, and a hostile person. Also it should not be
developed specifically (see §49) towards the opposite sex, or towards a
dead person.
5. What is the reason why it should not be developed at first towards
an antipathetic person and the others? To put an antipathetic person in a
dear one's place is fatiguing. To put a very dearly loved friend in a
neutral person's place is fatiguing; and if the slightest mischance befalls
the friend, he feels like weeping. To put a neutral person in a respected
one's or a dear one's place is fatiguing. Anger springs up in him if he
recollects a hostile person. That is why it should not be developed at first
towards an antipathetic person and the rest.
6. Then, if he develops it specifically towards the opposite sex, lust
inspired by that person springs up in him. An elder supported by a
family was asked, it seems, by a friend's son, 'Venerable sir, towards
whom should lovingkindness be developed?' The elder told him, To-
wards a person one loves'. He loved his own wife. Through developing
lovingkindness towards her he was fighting against the wall all the night.
1
That is why it should not be developed specifically towards the opposite
sex.
7. But if he develops it towards a dead person, he reaches neither ab-
sorption nor access. A young bhikkhu, it seems, had started developing
lovingkindness inspired by his teacher. His lovingkindness made no head-
way at all. He went to a senior elder and told him, 'Venerable sir, I am
quite familiar with attaining jhana through lovingkindness, and yet I
cannot attain it. What is the matter?'. The elder said, 'Seek the sign,
friend, [the object of your meditation]'. He did so. Finding that his
teacher had died, he proceeded with developing lovingkindness inspired
by another and attained absorption. That is why it should not be devel-
oped towards one who is dead.
8. First of all it should be developed only towards oneself, doing it
repeatedly thus: 'May I be happy and free from suffering' or 'May I
keep myself free from enmity, affliction and anxiety and live happily'.
9. If that is so, does it not conflict with what is said in the texts? For
there is no mention of any development of it towards oneself in what is
said in the Vibhahga: 'And how does a bhikkhu dwell pervading one
direction with his heart filled with lovingkindness? Just as he would feel
lovingkindness on seeing a dearly loved person, so he pervades all beings
with lovingkindness' (Vbh. 272); and in what is said in the Patisambhida:
'In what five ways is the mind-deliverance of lovingkindness [practised]
with unspecified pervasion? May all beings be free from enmity, afflic-
tion and anxiety and live happily. May all breathing things [297] ... all
who are born ... all persons ... all those who have a personality be free
from enmity, affliction and anxiety and live happily' (Ps.ii,130); and in
what is said in the Metta Sutta: 'In joy and safety may all beings be
joyful at heart' (Sn. 145). [Does it not conflict with those texts?]
10. It does not conflict. Why not? Because that refers to absorption. But
this [initial development towards oneself] refers to [making oneself] an
example. For even if he developed lovingkindness for a hundred or a
thousand years in this way, 'I am happy' and so on, absorption would
never arise. But if he develops it in this way: * I am happy. Just as I want
to be happy and dread pain, as I want to live and not to die, so do other
beings, too', making himself the example, then desire for other beings'
welfare and happiness arises in him. And this method is indicated by the
Blessed One's saying:
* I visited all quarters with my mind
Nor found I any dearer than myself;
Self is likewise to every other dear;
Who loves himself will never harm another' (S.i,75; Ud. 47).
11. So he should first, as example, pervade himself with lovingkindness.
Next after that, in order to proceed easily, he can recollect such gifts,
2
kind words, etc., as inspire love and endearment, such virtue, learning,
etc., as inspire respect and reverence met with in a teacher or his equiva-
lent or a preceptor or his equivalent, developing lovingkindness towards
him in the way beginning *May this good man be happy and free from
suffering'. With such a person, of course, he attains absorption.
12. But if this bhikkhu does not rest content with just that much and
wants to break down the barriers, he should next, after that, develop lov-
ingkindness towards a very dearly loved friend, then towards a neutral
person as a very dearly loved friend, then towards a hostile person as
neutral. And while he does so, he should make his mind malleable and
wieldy in each instance before passing on to the next.
13. But if he has no enemy, or he is of the type of a great man who does
not perceive another as an enemy even when the other does him harm,
he should not interest himself as follows: 'Now that my consciousness of
lovingkindness has become wieldy towards a neutral person, I shall ap-
ply it to a hostile one'. [298] Rather it was about one who actually has an
enemy that it was said above that he should develop lovingkindness
towards a hostile person as neutral.
[Getting Rid of Resentment]
14. If resentment arises in him when he applies his mind to a hostile
person because he remembers wrongs done by that person, he should get
rid of the resentment by entering repeatedly into lovingkindness [jhana]
towards any of the first-mentioned persons and then, after he has emerged
each time, directing lovingkindness towards that person.
15. But if it does not die out in spite of his efforts, then:
Let him reflect upon the saw
With other figures of such kind,
And strive, and strive repeatedly,
To leave resentment far behind.
He should admonish himself in this way:
4
Now, you who get angry, has
not the Blessed One said this: "Bhikkhus, even if bandits brutally sev-
ered limb from limb with a two-handled saw, he who entertained hate in
his heart on that account would not be one who carried out my teaching"
(M.i,129)? And this:
"To repay angry men in kind
Is worse than to be angry first;
Repay not angry men in kind
And win a battle hard to win.
"The weal of both he does promote,
His own and then the other's too,
Who shall another's anger know
And mindfully maintain his peace" (S.i,162)?
And this: "Bhikkhus, there are seven things gratifying and helpful to an
enemy that happen to one who is angry, whether woman or man. What
seven? Here, bhikkhus, an enemy wishes thus for his enemy, *Let him be
ugly!'. Why is that? An enemy does not delight in an enemy's beauty.
Now this angry person is a prey to anger, ruled by anger; though well
bathed, well anointed, with hair and beard trimmed and clothed in white,
yet he is ugly, being a prey to anger. This is the first thing gratifying and
helpful to an enemy that befalls one who is angry, whether woman or
man. Furthermore, an enemy wishes thus for his enemy, 'Let him lie in
pain!'... *Let him have no good fortune!' ... 'Let him not be wealthy!'...
'Let him not be famous!'... 'Let him have no friends!' [299]...
4
Let him
not on the breakup of the body, after death, reappear in a happy destiny
in the heavenly world!'.
3
Why is that? An enemy does not delight in an
enemy's going to a happy destiny. Now this angry person is a prey to
anger, ruled by anger, he misconducts himself in body, speech and mind.
Misconducting himself thus in body, speech and mind, on the breakup of
the body, after death, he reappears in a state of loss, in an unhappy
destiny, in perdition, in hell, being a prey to anger" (A.iv,94)? And this:
"As a log from a pyre, burnt at both ends and fouled in the middle,
serves neither for timber in the village nor for timber in the forest, so is
such a person as this I say" (A.ii,95, Iti. 90)? If you are angry now, you
will be one who does not carry out the Blessed One's teaching; by
repaying an angry man in kind you will be worse than the angry man and
not win the battle hard to win; you will yourself do to yourself the things
that help your enemy; and you will be like a pyre log'.
16. If his resentment subsides when he strives and makes effort in this
way, it is good. If not, then he should remove irritation by remembering
some controlled and purified state in that person, which inspires confi-
dence when remembered.
17. For one person may be controlled in his bodily behaviour with his
control in doing an extensive course of duty known to all, though his
verbal and mental behaviour are not controlled. Then the latter should be
ignored and the control in his bodily behaviour remembered.
18. Another may be controlled in his verbal behaviour, and his control
known to all—he may naturally be clever at welcoming kindly, easy to
talk with, congenial, open-countenanced, deferential in speech, and he
may expound the Dhamma with a sweet voice and give explanations of
Dhamma with well-rounded phrases and details—though his bodily and
mental behaviour are not controlled. Then the latter should be ignored
and the control in his verbal behaviour remembered.
19. Another may be controlled in his mental behaviour, and his control
in worshipping at shrines, etc., evident to all. For when one who is
uncontrolled in mind pays homage at a shrine or at an Enlightenment
Tree or to elders, he does not do it carefully, [300] and he sits in the
Dhamma-preaching pavilion with mind astray or nodding, while one
whose mind is controlled pays homage carefully and deliberately, listens
to the Dhamma attentively, remembering it, and evincing the confidence
in his mind through his body or his speech. So another may be only
controlled in his mental behaviour, though his bodily and verbal behav-
iour are not controlled. Then the latter should be ignored and the control
in his mental behaviour remembered.
20. But there may be another in whom not even one of these three
things is controlled. Then compassion for that person should be aroused
thus: 'Though he is going about in the human world now, nevertheless
after a certain number of days he will find himself in [one of] the eight
great hells or the sixteen prominent hells'.
4
For irritation subsides too
through compassion. In yet another all three may be controlled. Then he
can remember any of the three in that person, whichever he likes; for the
development of lovingkindness towards such a person is easy.
21. And in order to make the meaning of this clear the following sutta
from the Book of Fives should be cited in full: 'Bhikkhus, there are five
ways of dispelling annoyance whereby annoyance arisen in a bhikkhu
can be entirely dispelled' (A.iii, 186-90).
22. But if irritation still arises in him in spite of his efforts, then he
should admonish himself thus:
'Suppose an enemy has hurt
You now in what is his domain,
Why try yourself as well to hurt
Your mind?—That is not his domain.
'In tears you left your family.
They had been kind and helpful too.
So why not leave your enemy,
The anger that brings harm to you?
'This anger that you entertain
Is gnawing at the very roots
Of all the virtues that you guard—
Who is there such a fool as you?
'Another does ignoble deeds,
So you are angry—How is this?
Do you then want to copy too
The sort of acts that he commits?
'Suppose another, to annoy,
Provokes you with some odious act,
Why suffer anger to spring up,
And do as he would have you do?
'If you get angry, then maybe
You make him suffer, maybe not;
Though with the hurt that anger brings
You certainly are punished now.
'If anger-blinded enemies
Set out to tread the path of woe,
Do you by getting angry too
Intend to follow heel to toe?
'If hurt is done you by a foe
Because of anger on your part,
Then put your anger down, for why
Should you be harassed groundlessly? [301]
'Since states last but a moment's time
Those aggregates, by which was done
The odious act, have ceased, so now
What is it you are angry with?
'Whom shall he hurt, who seeks to hurt
Another, in the other's absence?
Your presence is the cause of hurt;
Why are you angry, then, with him?'
23. But if resentment does not subside when he admonishes himself
thus, then he should review the fact that he himself and the other are
owners of their deeds (kamma).
Herein, he should first review this in himself thus: *Now what is the
point of your getting angry with him? Will not this kamma of yours that
has anger as its source lead to your own harm? For you are the owner of
your deeds, heir of your deeds, having deeds as your parent, deeds as
your kin, deeds as your refuge; you will become the heir of whatever
deeds you do (see A.iii,186). And this is not the kind of deed to bring
you to full enlightenment, to undeclared enlightenment or to the dis-
ciple's grade, or to any such position as the status of Brahma or Sakka,
or the throne of a Wheel-turning Monarch or a regional king, etc.; but
rather this is the kind of deed to lead to your fall from the Dispensation,
even to the status of the eaters of scraps, etc., and to the manifold
suffering in the hells, and so on. By doing this you are like a man who
wants to hit another and picks up a burning ember or excrement in his
hand and so first burns himself or makes himself stink'.
24. Having reviewed ownership of deeds in himself in this way, he
should review it in the other also: *And what is the point of his getting
angry with you? Will it not lead to his own harm? For that venerable one
is owner of his deeds, heir of his deeds ... he will become the heir of
whatever deeds he does. And this is not the kind of deed to bring him to
full enlightenment, to undeclared enlightenment or to the disciple's grade,
or to any such position as the status of Brahma or Sakka, or to the throne
of a Wheel-turning Monarch or a regional king, etc.; but rather this is the
kind of deed to lead to his fall from the Dispensation, even to the status
of the eaters of scraps, etc., and to the manifold suffering in the hells,
and so on. By doing this he is like a man who wants to throw dust at
another against the wind and only covers himself with it'. For this is said
by the Blessed One:
'When a fool hates a man that has no hate,
Is purified and free from every blemish, [302]
Such evil he will find comes back on him,
As does fine dust thrown up against the wind' (Dh. 125).
25. But if it still does not subside in him when he reviews ownership of
deeds in this way, then he should review the special qualities of the
Master's former conduct.
26. Here is the way of reviewing it: *Now you who have gone forth, is it
not a fact that when your Master was a Bodhisatta before discovering
full enlightenment, while he was still engaged in fulfilling the perfec-
tions during the four incalculable ages and a hundred thousand aeons, he
did not allow hate to corrupt his mind even when his enemies tried to
murder him on various occasions?
27. Tor example, in the Silavant Birth Story (Ja.i,261) when his friends
rose to prevent his kingdom of three hundred leagues being seized by an
enemy king who had been incited by a wicked minister in whose mind
his own queen had sown hate for him, he did not allow them to lift a
weapon. Again when he was buried, along with a thousand companions,
up to the neck in a hole dug in the earth in a charnel ground, he had no
thought of hate. And when, after saving his life by a heroic effort helped
by jackals scraping away soil when they had come to devour the corpses,
he went with the aid of a spirit to his own bedroom and saw his enemy
lying on his own bed, he was not angry but treated him as a friend,
undertaking a mutual pledge, and he then exclaimed:
"The brave aspire, the wise will not lose heart;
I see myself as I had wished to be" (Ja.i,267).
28. * And in the Khantivadin Birth Story he was asked by the stupid king
of Kasi (Benares), "What do you preach, monk?", and he replied, "I am
a preacher of patience"; and when the king had him flogged with scourges
of thorns and had his hands and feet cut off, he felt not the slightest
anger (see Ja.iii,39).
29. 'It is perhaps not so wonderful that an adult who had actually gone
forth into homelessness should have acted in that way; but also as an
infant he did so. For in the Cula-Dhammapala Birth Story his hands and
feet were ordered to be lopped off like four bamboo shoots by his father,
King Mahapatapa, and his mother lamented over him thus:
"Oh, Dhammapala's arms are severed
That had been bathed in sandalwood;
He was the heir to all the earth:
O king, my breath is choking me!" (Ja.iii,181). [303]
*Then his father, still not satisfied, commanded that his head be cut
off as well. But even then he had not the least trace of hate, since he had
firmly resolved thus: "Now is the time to restrain your mind; now, good
Dhammapala, be impartial towards these four persons, that is to say,
towards your father who is having your head cut off, the man who is
beheading you, your lamenting mother, and yourself.
30. 'And it is perhaps not so wonderful that one who had become a
human being should have acted in that way; but also as an animal he did
so. For while the Bodhisatta was the elephant called Chaddanta he was
pierced in the navel by a poisoned shaft. But even then he allowed no
hate towards the hunter who had wounded him to corrupt his mind,
according as it is said:
"The elephant, when struck by the stout shaft,
Addressed the hunter with no hate in mind:
'What is your aim? What is the reason why
You kill me thus? What can your purpose be?' " (Ja.v,51).
'And when the elephant had spoken thus and was told, "Sir, I have
been sent by the king of Kasi's queen to get your tusks", in order to fulfil
her wish he cut off his own tusks whose gorgeous radiance glittered with
the flashes of the six-coloured rays and gave them to him.
31. 'And when he was the Great Monkey, the man whom he had pulled
out of a rocky chasm thought:
"Now this is food for human kind
Like other forest animals,
So why then should a hungry man
Not kill the ape to eat? [I ask.]
1*1 1 travel independently
Taking his meat as a provision;
Thus I shall cross the waste, and that
Will furnish my viaticum" (Ja.v,71).
Then he took up a stone and dashed it on his head. But the monkey
looked at him with eyes full of tears and said:
"Oh, act not so, good sir, or else
The fate you reap will long deter
All others from such deeds as this
That you would do to me today" (Ja.v,71).
And with no hate in his mind and regardless of his own pain he saw to it
that the man reached his journey's end in safety.
32. 'And while he was the royal naga (serpent) Bhuridatta, [304] when
he had undertaken the Uposatha precepts and was lying on the top of an
ant-hill, though he was [caught and] sprinkled with medicinal charms
resembling the fire that ushers in the end of an aeon, and was put into a
box and treated as a plaything throughout the whole of Jambudipa, yet
he had no trace of hate for that brahman, according as it is said:
"While being put into the coffer
And being crushed down with his hand,
I had no hate for Alambana
Lest I should break my precept vow" (Cp. 85)'.
33. 'And when he was the royal naga Campeyya he let no hate spring
up in his mind while he was being cruelly treated by a snake charmer,
according as it is said:
"While I was living in the Law
Observing the Uposatha
A snake charmer took me away
To play with at the royal gate.
Whatever hue he might conceive,
Blue and yellow, and red as well,
So in accordance with his thought
I would become what he had wished;
I would turn dry land into water,
And water into land likewise.
Now had I given way to wrath
I could have seared him into ash,
Had I relaxed mind-mastery
I should have let my virtue lapse;
And one who lets his virtue lapse
Cannot attain the highest goal" (Cp. 85).
34. "And when he was the royal naga Sankhapala, while he was being
carried along on a carrying pole by the sixteen village boys after they
had wounded him in eight places with sharp spears and inserted thorn
creepers into the wounds' orifices, and while, after threading a strong
rope through his nose, they were causing him great agony by dragging
him along bumping his body on the surface of the ground, though he was
capable of turning those village boys to cinders with a mere glance, yet
he did not even show the least trace of hate on opening his eyes, accord-
ing as it is said:
"On the fourteenth and the fifteenth too, Alara,
I regularly kept the Holy Day,
Until there came those sixteen village boys
Bearing a rope and a stout spear as well.
The hunters cleft my nose, and through the slit
They passed a rope and dragged me off like that.
But though I felt such poignant agony,
I let no hate disturb my Holy Day" (Ja.v,172). [305]
Visuddhimagga - Other Recollections as Meditation Subjects - The recollection of peace
THE PATH
OF PURIFICATION
(VISUDDHIMAGGA)
BY
BHADANTACARIYA BUDDHAGHOSA
Translated from the Pali
by
BHIKKHU NANAMOLI
FIFTH EDITION
BUDDHIST PUBLICATION SOCIETY
Kandy Sri Lanka
[(10) RECOLLECTION OF PEACE]
245. One who wants to develop the recollection of peace mentioned next
to mindfulness of breathing (Ch. III, §105) should go into solitary retreat
and recollect the special qualities of nibbana, in other words, the stilling
of all suffering, as follows:
'Bhikkhus, in so far as there are dhammas, whether formed or un-
formed, fading away is pronounced the best of them, that is to say, the
disillusionment of vanity, the elimination of thirst, the abolition of reli-
ance, the termination of the round, the destruction of craving, fading
away, cessation, nibbana' (A.ii,34).
246. Herein in so far as means as many as. Dhammas [means] individual
essences.
68
Whether formed or unformed: whether made by conditions
going together, coming together, or not so made.
69
Fading away is pro-
nounced the best of them: of these formed and unformed dhammas, fad-
ing away is pronounced the best, is called the foremost, the highest.
247. Herein fading away is not mere absence of greed, but rather it is that
unformed dhamma which, while given the names 'disillusionment of
vanity', etc., in the clause 'that is to say, the disillusionment of vanity,
... nibbana', is treated basically as fading away.
10
It is called disillusion-
ment of vanity because on coming to it all kinds of vanity (intoxication),
such as the vanity of conceit, and vanity of manhood, are disillusioned,
undone, done away with.
71
And it is called elimination of thirst because
on coming to it all thirst for sense desires is eliminated and quenched.
But it is called abolition of reliance because on coming to it reliance on
the five cords of sense desire is abolished. It is called termination of the
round because on coming to it the round of the three planes [of exis-
tence] is terminated. It is called destruction of craving because on com-
ing to it craving is entirely destroyed, fades away and ceases. It is called
nibbana (extinction) because it has gone away from (nikkhanta), has es-
caped from (nissata\ is dissociated from craving, which has acquired in
common usage the name "fastening9
(vdna) because, by ensuring succes-
sive becoming, craving serves as a joining together, a binding together, a
lacing together, of the four kinds of generation, five destinies, seven
stations of consciousness and nine abodes of beings.
72
[294]
248. This is how peace, in other words, nibbana, should be recollected
according to its special qualities beginning with disillusionment of van-
ity. But it should also be recollected according to the other special quali-
ties of peace stated by the Blessed One in the suttas beginning with:
'Bhikkhus, I shall teach you the unformed ... the truth ... the other shore
... the hard-to-see ... the undecaying ... the lasting ... the undiversified
... the deathless ... the auspicious ... the safe ... the marvellous ... the
intact ... the unafflicted ... the purity ... the island ... the shelter ... '
(S.iv,360-72).
73
249. As he recollects peace in its special qualities of disillusionment of
vanity, etc., in this way, then: 'On that occasion his mind is not obsessed
by greed or obsessed by hate or obsessed by delusion; his mind has rec-
titude on that occasion, being inspired by peace' (see Ch. VII, §65, etc.).
So when he has suppressed the hindrances in the way already de-
scribed under the recollection of the Enlightened One, etc., the jhana
factors arise in a single moment. But owing to the profundity of the
special qualities of peace, or owing to his being occupied in recollecting
special qualities of various kinds, the jhana is only access and does not
reach absorption. And that jhana itself is known as Recollection of peace'
too because it arises by means of the special qualities of peace.
250. And as in the case of the six recollections, this also comes to success
only in a noble disciple. Still, though this is so, it can nevertheless also
be brought to mind by an ordinary person who values peace. For even by
hearsay the mind has confidence in peace.
251. A bhikkhu who is devoted to this recollection of peace sleeps in
bliss and wakes in bliss, his faculties are peaceful, his mind is peaceful,
he has conscience and shame, he is confident, he is resolved [to attain]
the superior [state], he is respected and honoured by his fellows in the
life of purity. And even if he penetrates no higher, he is at least headed
for a happy destiny.
So that is why a man of wit
Untiringly devotes his days
To mind the noble peace, which can
Reward him in so many ways.
This is the section dealing with the recollection of peace in the
detailed explanation.
The eighth chapter called 'The Description of
Recollections as Meditation Subjects' in the Trea-
tise on the Development of Concentration in the
Path of Purification composed for the purpose of
gladdening good people.
OF PURIFICATION
(VISUDDHIMAGGA)
BY
BHADANTACARIYA BUDDHAGHOSA
Translated from the Pali
by
BHIKKHU NANAMOLI
FIFTH EDITION
BUDDHIST PUBLICATION SOCIETY
Kandy Sri Lanka
[(10) RECOLLECTION OF PEACE]
245. One who wants to develop the recollection of peace mentioned next
to mindfulness of breathing (Ch. III, §105) should go into solitary retreat
and recollect the special qualities of nibbana, in other words, the stilling
of all suffering, as follows:
'Bhikkhus, in so far as there are dhammas, whether formed or un-
formed, fading away is pronounced the best of them, that is to say, the
disillusionment of vanity, the elimination of thirst, the abolition of reli-
ance, the termination of the round, the destruction of craving, fading
away, cessation, nibbana' (A.ii,34).
246. Herein in so far as means as many as. Dhammas [means] individual
essences.
68
Whether formed or unformed: whether made by conditions
going together, coming together, or not so made.
69
Fading away is pro-
nounced the best of them: of these formed and unformed dhammas, fad-
ing away is pronounced the best, is called the foremost, the highest.
247. Herein fading away is not mere absence of greed, but rather it is that
unformed dhamma which, while given the names 'disillusionment of
vanity', etc., in the clause 'that is to say, the disillusionment of vanity,
... nibbana', is treated basically as fading away.
10
It is called disillusion-
ment of vanity because on coming to it all kinds of vanity (intoxication),
such as the vanity of conceit, and vanity of manhood, are disillusioned,
undone, done away with.
71
And it is called elimination of thirst because
on coming to it all thirst for sense desires is eliminated and quenched.
But it is called abolition of reliance because on coming to it reliance on
the five cords of sense desire is abolished. It is called termination of the
round because on coming to it the round of the three planes [of exis-
tence] is terminated. It is called destruction of craving because on com-
ing to it craving is entirely destroyed, fades away and ceases. It is called
nibbana (extinction) because it has gone away from (nikkhanta), has es-
caped from (nissata\ is dissociated from craving, which has acquired in
common usage the name "fastening9
(vdna) because, by ensuring succes-
sive becoming, craving serves as a joining together, a binding together, a
lacing together, of the four kinds of generation, five destinies, seven
stations of consciousness and nine abodes of beings.
72
[294]
248. This is how peace, in other words, nibbana, should be recollected
according to its special qualities beginning with disillusionment of van-
ity. But it should also be recollected according to the other special quali-
ties of peace stated by the Blessed One in the suttas beginning with:
'Bhikkhus, I shall teach you the unformed ... the truth ... the other shore
... the hard-to-see ... the undecaying ... the lasting ... the undiversified
... the deathless ... the auspicious ... the safe ... the marvellous ... the
intact ... the unafflicted ... the purity ... the island ... the shelter ... '
(S.iv,360-72).
73
249. As he recollects peace in its special qualities of disillusionment of
vanity, etc., in this way, then: 'On that occasion his mind is not obsessed
by greed or obsessed by hate or obsessed by delusion; his mind has rec-
titude on that occasion, being inspired by peace' (see Ch. VII, §65, etc.).
So when he has suppressed the hindrances in the way already de-
scribed under the recollection of the Enlightened One, etc., the jhana
factors arise in a single moment. But owing to the profundity of the
special qualities of peace, or owing to his being occupied in recollecting
special qualities of various kinds, the jhana is only access and does not
reach absorption. And that jhana itself is known as Recollection of peace'
too because it arises by means of the special qualities of peace.
250. And as in the case of the six recollections, this also comes to success
only in a noble disciple. Still, though this is so, it can nevertheless also
be brought to mind by an ordinary person who values peace. For even by
hearsay the mind has confidence in peace.
251. A bhikkhu who is devoted to this recollection of peace sleeps in
bliss and wakes in bliss, his faculties are peaceful, his mind is peaceful,
he has conscience and shame, he is confident, he is resolved [to attain]
the superior [state], he is respected and honoured by his fellows in the
life of purity. And even if he penetrates no higher, he is at least headed
for a happy destiny.
So that is why a man of wit
Untiringly devotes his days
To mind the noble peace, which can
Reward him in so many ways.
This is the section dealing with the recollection of peace in the
detailed explanation.
The eighth chapter called 'The Description of
Recollections as Meditation Subjects' in the Trea-
tise on the Development of Concentration in the
Path of Purification composed for the purpose of
gladdening good people.
Friday, July 8, 2011
Visuddhimagga - Other Recollections as Meditation Subjects - Mindfulness of breathing III
THE PATH
OF PURIFICATION
(VISUDDHIMAGGA)
BY
BHADANTACARIYA BUDDHAGHOSA
Translated from the Pali
by
BHIKKHU NANAMOLI
FIFTH EDITION
BUDDHIST PUBLICATION SOCIETY
Kandy Sri Lanka
210. These in-breaths and out-breaths occur striking the tip of the nose in
a long-nosed man [284] and the upper lip in a short-nosed man. So he
should fix the sign thus: 'This is the place where they strike'. This was
why the Blessed One said: 'Bhikkhus, I do not say of one who is forget-
ful, who is not fully aware, [that he practises] development of mindful-
ness of breathing' (M.iii,84).
211. Although any meditation subject, no matter what, is successful only
in one who is mindful and fully aware, yet any meditation subject other
than this one gets more evident as he goes on giving it his attention. But
this mindfulness of breathing is difficult, difficult to develop, a field in
which only the minds of Buddhas, Paccekabuddhas, and Buddhas' sons
are at home. It is no trivial matter, nor can it be cultivated by trivial
persons. In proportion as continued attention is given to it, it becomes
more peaceful and more subtle. So strong mindfulness and understand-
ing are necessary here.
212. Just as when doing needlework on a piece of fine cloth a fine needle
is needed, and a still finer instrument for boring the needle's eye, so too,
when developing this meditation subject, which resembles fine cloth,
both the mindfulness, which is the counterpart of the needle, and the
understanding associated with it, which is the counterpart of the instru-
ment for boring the needle's eye, need to be strong. A bhikkhu must
have the necessary mindfulness and understanding and must look for the
in-breaths and out-breaths nowhere else than the place normally touched
by them.
213. Suppose a ploughman, after doing some ploughing, sent his oxen
free to graze and sat down to rest in the shade, then his oxen would soon
go into the forest. Now a skilled ploughman who wants to catch them
and yoke them again does not wander through the forest following their
tracks, but rather he takes his rope and goad and goes straight to the
drinking place where they meet, and he sits or lies there. Then after the
oxen have wandered about for a part of the day, they come to the drink-
ing place where they meet and they bathe and drink, and when he sees
that they have come out and are standing about, he secures them with the
rope, and prodding them with the goad, he brings them back, yokes
them, and goes on with his ploughing. So too, the bhikkhu should not
look for the in-breaths and out-breaths anywhere else than the place nor-
mally touched by them. And he should take the rope of mindfulness and
the goad of understanding, and fixing his mind on the place normally
touched by them, he should go on giving his attention to that. [285] For
as he gives his attention in this way they reappear after no long time, as
the oxen did at the drinking place where they met. So he can secure them
with the rope of mindfulness, and yoking them in that same place and
prodding them with the goad of understanding, he can keep on applying
himself to the meditation subject.
214. When he does so in this way, the sign58
soon appears to him. But it
is not the same for all; on the contrary, some say that when it appears it
does so to certain people producing a light touch like cotton or silk-
cotton or a draught.
215. But this is the exposition given in the commentaries: It appears to
some like a star or a cluster of gems or a cluster of pearls, to others with
a rough touch like that of silk-cotton seeds or a peg made of heartwood,
to others like a long braid string or a wreath of flowers or a puff of
smoke, to others like a stretched-out cobweb or a film of cloud or a lotus
flower or a chariot wheel or the moon's disk or the sun's disk.
216. In fact this resembles an occasion when a number of bhikkhus are
sitting together reciting a suttanta. When a bhikkhu asks, 'What does this
sutta appear like to you?', one says, 'It appears to me like a great moun-
tain torrent', another 'To me it is like a line of forest trees', another 'To
me it is like a spreading fruit tree giving cool shade'. For the one sutta
appears to them differently because of the difference in their perception.
Similarly this single meditation subject appears differently because of
difference in perception.
59
It is born of perception, its source is percep-
tion, it is produced by perception. Therefore it should be understood that
when it appears differently it is because of difference in perception.
217. And here, the consciousness that has in-breath as its object is one,
the consciousness that has out-breath as its object is another, and the
consciousness that has the sign as its object is another. For the medita-
tion subject reaches neither absorption nor even access in one who has
not got these three things [clear]. But it reaches access and also absorp-
tion in one who has got these three things [clear]. For this is said:
'Sign, in-breath, out-breath, are not object
Of a single consciousness;
By one who knows not these three things
Development is not obtained.
'Sign, in-breath, out-breath, are not object
Of a single consciousness;
By one who does know these three things
Development can be obtained' (Ps.i,170). [286]
218. And when the sign has appeared in this way, the bhikkhu should go
to the teacher and tell him, 'Venerable sir, such and such has appeared to
me'. But [say the Digha reciters] the teacher should say neither 'This is
the sign' nor 'This is not the sign'; after saying 'It happens like this,
friend', he should tell him, 'Go on giving it attention again and again';
for if he were told 'It is the sign', he might [become complacent and]
stop short at that (see M.i,193f.), and if he were told 'It is not the sign',
he might get discouraged and give up; so he should encourage him to
keep giving it his attention without saying either. So the Digha reciters
say, firstly. But the Majjhima reciters say that he should be told, 'This is
the sign, friend. Well done. Keep giving attention to it again and again'.
219. Then he should fix his mind on that same sign; and so from now on,
his development proceeds by way of fixing. For the Ancients said this:
'Fixing his mind upon the sign
And putting away60
extraneous aspects,
The clever man anchors his mind
Upon the breathings in and out'.
220. So as soon as the sign appears, his hindrances are suppressed, his de-
filements subside, his mindfulness is established, and his consciousness
is concentrated in access concentration.
221. Then he should not give attention to the sign as to its colour, or
review it as to its [specific] characteristic. He should guard it as carefully
as a king's chief queen guards the child in her womb due to become a
Wheel-turning Monarch,
61
or as a farmer guards the ripening crops; and
he should avoid the seven unsuitable things beginning with the unsuit-
able abode and cultivate the seven suitable things. Then, guarding it
thus, he should make it grow and improve with repeated attention, and
he should practise the tenfold skill in absorption (Ch. IV, §42) and bring
about evenness of energy (Ch. IV, §66).
222. As he strives thus, fourfold and fivefold jhana is achieved by him on
that same sign in the same way as described under the earth kasina.
5-8. (See §189) However, when a bhikkhu has achieved the fourfold
and fivefold jhana and wants to reach purity by developing the medita-
tion subject through observing and through turning away, he should
make that jhana familiar by attaining mastery in it in the five ways (Ch.
IV, §131), and then embark upon insight by defining mentality-material-
ity. How?
223. On emerging from the attainment, [287] he sees that the in-breaths
and out-breaths have the physical body and the mind as their origin; and
that just as, when a blacksmith's bellows are being blown, the wind
moves owing to the bag and to the man's appropriate effort, so too, in-
breaths and out-breaths are due to the body and the mind.
Next, he defines the in-breaths and out-breaths and the body as
'materiality', and the consciousness and the states associated with the
consciousness as 'the immaterial [mind]'. This is in brief (cf. MA.i,249);
but the details will be explained later in the defining of mentality-materi-
ality (Ch. XVIII, §3f.).
224. Having defined mentality-materiality in this way, he seeks its condi-
tion. With search he finds it, and so overcomes his doubts about the way
of mentality-materiality's occurrence in the three divisions of time
(Ch. XIX).
His doubts being overcome, he attributes the three characteristics
[beginning with that of suffering to mentality and materiality], compre-
hending [them] by groups (Ch. XX, §2f.); he abandons the ten imperfec-
tions of insight beginning with illumination, which arise in the first
stages of the contemplation of rise and fall (Ch. XX, §105f.), and he de-
fines as 'the path' the knowledge of the way that is free from these
imperfections (Ch. XX, §126f.).
He reaches contemplation of dissolution by abandoning [attention
to] arising. When all formations have appeared as terror owing to the
contemplation of their incessant dissolution, he becomes dispassionate
towards them (Ch. XXI), his greed for them fades away, and he is liber-
ated from them (Ch. XXII).
After he has [thus] reached the four noble paths in due succession
and has become established in the fruition of Arahantship, he at last
attains to the nineteen kinds of reviewing knowledge (Ch. XXII, §19f.),
and he becomes fit to receive the highest gifts from the world with its
deities.
225. At this point his development of concentration through mindfulness
of breathing, beginning with counting and ending with looking back
(§189) is completed. This is the commentary on the first tetrad in all
aspects.
[Word Commentary Continued—Second Tetrad]
226. Now since there is no separate method for developing the medita-
tion subject in the case of the other tetrads, their meaning therefore
needs only to be understood according to the word commentary.
(v) He trains thus: 7shall breathe in ... shall breathe out experienc-
ing happiness', that is, making happiness known, making it plain. Herein,
the happiness is experienced in two ways: (a) with the object, and (b)
with non-confusion.
62
227. (a) How is the happiness experienced with the object? He attains the
two jhanas in which happiness is present. At the time when he has
actually entered upon them the happiness is experienced with the object
owing to the obtaining of the jhana, because of the experiencing of the
object, (b) How with non-confusion? When, after entering upon and
emerging from one of the two jhanas accompanied by happiness, [288]
he comprehends with insight that happiness associated with the jhana as
liable to destruction and to fall, then at the actual time of the insight the
happiness is experienced with non-confusion owing to the penetration of
its characteristics [of impermanence, and so on].
228. For this is said in the PatisambhidA: 'When he knows unification of
mind and non-distraction through long in-breaths, mindfulness is estab-
lished in him. By means of that mindfulness and that knowledge that
happiness is experienced. When he knows unification of mind and non-
distraction through long out-breaths ... through short in-breaths ... through
short out-breaths ... through in-breaths ... out-breaths experiencing the
whole body ... through in-breaths ... out-breaths tranquillizing the bod-
ily formation, mindfulness is established in him. By means of that mind-
fulness and that knowledge that happiness is experienced.
'It is experienced by him when he adverts, when he knows, sees,
reviews, steadies his mind, resolves with faith, exerts energy, establishes
mindfulness, concentrates his mind, understands with understanding, di-
rectly knows what is to be directly known, fully understands what is to
be fully understood, abandons what is to be abandoned, develops what is
to be developed, realizes what is to be realized. It is in this way that that
happiness is experienced* (Ps.i,187).
229. (vi)-(viii) The remaining [three] clauses should be understood in the
same way as to meaning; but there is this difference here. The experienc-
ing of bliss must be understood to be through three jhanas, and that of
the mental formation through four. The mental formation consists of the
two aggregates of feeling and perception. And in the case of the clause,
experiencing bliss, it is said in the Patisambhida in order to show the
plane of insight here [as well]: ' "Bliss": there are two kinds of bliss,
bodily bliss and mental bliss' (Ps.i,188). Tranquillizing the mental for-
mation: tranquillizing the gross mental formation; stopping it, is the
meaning. And this should be understood in detail in the same way as
given under the bodily formation (see §§176-85).
230. Here, moreover, in the 'happiness' clause feeling [which is actually
being contemplated in this tetrad] is stated under the heading of 'happi-
ness' [which is a formation] but in the 'bliss' clause feeling is stated in
its own form. In the two 'mental-formation' clauses the feeling is that
[necessarily] associated with perception because of the words, 'Percep-
tion and feeling belong to the mind, these things being bound up with the
mind are mental formations' (Ps.i,188). [289]
So this tetrad should be understood to deal with contemplation of
feeling.
[Word Commentary Continued—Third Tetrad]
231. (ix) In the third tetrad the experiencing of the [manner of\ con-
sciousness must be understood to be through four jhanas.
(x) Gladdening the [manner of] consciousness: he trains thus: 'Making
the mind glad, instilling gladness into it, cheering it, rejoicing it, I shall
breathe in, shall breathe out'. Herein, there is gladdening in two ways,
through concentration and through insight.
How through concentration? He attains the two jhanas in which hap-
piness is present. At the time when he has actually entered upon them he
inspires the mind with gladness, instils gladness into it, by means of the
happiness associated with the jhana. How through insight? After enter-
ing upon and emerging from one of the two jhanas accompanied by
happiness, he comprehends with insight that happiness associated with
the jhana as liable to destruction and to fall; thus at the actual time of
insight he inspires the mind with gladness, instils gladness into it, by
making the happiness associated with the jhana the object.
It is of one progressing in this way that the words, 'He trains thus: "I
shall breathe in ... shall breathe out gladdening the [manner of] con-
sciousness" \ are said.
232. (xi) Concentrating (samddaham) the [manner of] consciousness:
evenly (samarti) placing (ddahanto) the mind, evenly putting it on its
object by means of the first jhana and so on. Or alternatively, when,
having entered upon those jhanas and emerged from them, he compre-
hends with insight the consciousness associated with the jhana as liable
to destruction and to fall, then at the actual time of insight momentary
unification of the mind63
arises through the penetration of the character-
istics [of impermanence, and so on]. Thus the words, 'He trains thus: "I
shall breathe in ... shall breathe out concentrating the [manner of] con-
sciousness" \ are said also of one who evenly places the mind, evenly
puts it on its object by means of the momentary unification of the mind
arisen thus.
233. (xii) Liberating the [manner of\ consciousness: he both breathes in
and breathes out delivering, liberating, the mind from the hindrances by
means of the first jhana, from applied and sustained thought by means of
the second, from happiness by means of the third, from pleasure and
pain by means of the fourth. Or alternatively, when, having entered upon
those jhanas and emerged from them, he comprehends with insight the
consciousness associated with the jhana as liable to destruction and to
fall, then at the actual time of insight he delivers, liberates, the mind
from the perception of permanence by means of the contemplation of
impermanence, from the perception of pleasure by means of the contem-
plation of pain, from the perception of self by means of the contempla-
tion of not self, from delight by means of the contemplation of dispas-
sion, from greed by means of the contemplation of fading away, from
arousing by means of the contemplation of cessation, from grasping by
means of the contemplation of relinquishment. Hence it is said: [290]
'He trains thus: "I shall breathe in ... shall breathe out liberating the
[manner of] consciousness" \
64
So this tetrad should be understood to deal with contemplation of
mind.
[Word Commentary Continued—Fourth Tetrad]
234. (xiii) But in the fourth tetrad, as to contemplating impermanence,
here firstly, the impermanent should be understood, and impermanence,
and the contemplation of impermanence, and one contemplating imper-
manence.
Herein, the five aggregates are the impermanent. Why? Because
their essence is rise and fall and change. Impermanence is the rise and
fall and change in those same aggregates, or it is their non-existence
after having been; the meaning is, it is the breakup of produced aggre-
gates through their momentary dissolution since they do not remain in
the same mode. Contemplation of impermanence is contemplation of
materiality, etc., as 'impermanent' in virtue of that impermanence. One
contemplating impermanence possesses that contemplation. So it is when
one such as this is breathing in and breathing out that it can be under-
stood of him: 'He trains thus: "I shall breathe in ... shall breathe out
contemplating impermanence" \
65
235. (xiv) Contemplating fading away: there are two kinds of fading
away, that is, fading away as destruction, and absolute fading away.
66
Herein, 'fading away as destruction' is the momentary dissolution of
formations. *Absolute fading away' is nibbana. Contemplation of fading
away is insight and it is the path, which occur as the seeing of these two.
It is when he possesses this twofold contemplation that it can be under-
stood of him: 'He trains thus: "I shall breathe in ... shall breathe out con-
templating fading away" \
(xv) The same method of explanation applies to the clause, contem-
plating cessation.
236. (xvi) Contemplating relinquishment: relinquishment is of two kinds
too, that is to say, relinquishment as giving up, and relinquishment as en-
tering into. Relinquishment itself as [a way of] contemplation is 'con-
templation of relinquishment'. For insight is called both 'relinquishment
as giving up' and 'relinquishment as entering into' since [firstly], through
substitution of opposite qualities, it gives up defilements with their ag-
gregate-producing kamma formations, and [secondly], through seeing
the wretchedness of what is formed, it also enters into nibbana by inclin-
ing towards nibbana, which is the opposite of the formed (Ch. XXI, 18).
Also the path is called both 'relinquishment as giving up' and 'relin-
quishment as entering into' since it gives up defilements with their ag-
gregate-producing kamma-formations by cutting them off, and it enters
into nibbana by making it its object. Also both [insight and path knowl-
edge] are called contemplation \anupassana) because of their re-seeing
successively (anu anu passand) each preceding kind of knowledge.
67
[291] It is when he possesses this twofold contemplation that it can be
understood of him: 'He trains thus: "I shall breathe in ... shall breathe
out contemplating relinquishment"'.
237. This tetrad deals only with pure insight while the previous three deal
with serenity and insight.
This is how the development of mindfulness of breathing with its
sixteen bases in four tetrads should be understood.
[Conclusion]
This mindfulness of breathing with its sixteen bases thus is of great
fruit, of great benefit.
238. Its great beneficialness should be understood here as peacefulness
both because of the words 'And, bhikkhus, this concentration through
mindfulness of breathing, when developed and much practised, is both
peaceful and sublime' (S.v,321), etc., and because of its ability to cut off
applied thoughts; for it is because it is peaceful, sublime, and an unadul-
terated blissful abiding that it cuts off the mind's running hither and
thither with applied thoughts obstructive to concentration, and keeps the
mind only on the breaths as object. Hence it is said: 'Mindfulness of
breathing should be developed in order to cut off applied thoughts'
(A.iv,353).
239. Also its great beneficialness should be understood as the root condi-
tion for the perfecting of clear vision and deliverance; for this has been
said by the Blessed One: 'Bhikkhus, mindfulness of breathing, when de-
veloped and much practised, perfects the four foundations of mindful-
ness. The four foundations of mindfulness, when developed and much
practised, perfect the seven enlightenment factors. The seven enlighten-
ment factors, when developed and much practised, perfect clear vision
and deliverance' (M.iii,82).
240. Again its great beneficialness should be understood to reside in the
fact that it causes the final in-breaths and out-breaths to be known; for
this is said by the Blessed One: 'Rahula, when mindfulness of breathing
is thus developed, thus practised much, the final in-breaths and out-
breaths, too, are known as they cease, not unknown' (M.i,425-26).
241. Herein, there are three kinds of [breaths that are] final because of
cessation, that is to say, final in becoming, final in jhana, and final in
death. For, among the various kinds of becoming (existence), in-breaths
and out-breaths occur in the sensual-sphere becoming, not in the fine-
material and immaterial kinds of becoming. That is why there are final
ones in becoming. In the jhanas they occur in the first three but not in the
fourth. That is why there are final ones in jhana. Those that arise along
with the sixteenth consciousness preceeding the death consciousness [292]
cease together with the death consciousness. They are called 'final in
death'. It is these last that are meant here by 'final'.
242. When a bhikkhu has devoted himself to this meditation subject, it
seems, if he adverts, at the moment of arising of the sixteenth conscious-
ness before the death consciousness, to their arising, then their arising is
evident to him; if he adverts to their presence, then their presence is
evident to him; if he adverts to their dissolution, then their dissolution is
evident to him; and it is so because he has thoroughly discerned in-
breaths and out-breaths as object.
243. When a bhikkhu has attained Arahantship by developing some other
meditation subject than this one, he may be able to define his life term or
not. But when he has reached Arahantship by developing this mindful-
ness of breathing with its sixteen bases, he can always define his life
term. He knows, 'My vital formations will continue now for so long and
no more'. Automatically he performs all the functions of attending to the
body, dressing and robing, etc., after which he closes his eyes, like the
Elder Tissa who lived at the Kotapabbata Monastery, like the Elder
Maha-Tissa who lived at the Maha-Karanjiya Monastery, like the Elder
Tissa the alms-food eater in the kingdom of Devaputta, like the elders
who were brothers and lived at the Cittalapabbata monastery.
244. Here is one story as an illustration. After reciting the Patimokkha, it
seems, on the Uposatha day of the full moon, one of the two elders who
were brothers went to his own dwelling place surrounded by the Com-
munity of Bhikkhus. As he stood on the walk looking at the moonlight
he calculated his own vital formations, and he said to the Community of
Bhikkhus, 'In what way have you seen bhikkhus attaining nibbana up till
now?'. Some answered, 'Till now we have seen them attain nibbana
sitting in their seats'. Others answered, 'We have seen them sitting cross-
legged in the air'. The elder said, 'I shall now show you one attaining
nibbana while walking'. He then drew a line on the walk, saying, 'I shall
go from this end of the walk to the other end and return; when I reach
this line I shall attain nibbana'. So saying, he stepped on to the walk and
went to the far end. On his return he attained nibbana in the same
moment in which he stepped on the line. [293]
So let a man, if he is wise,
Untiringly devote his days
To mindfuness of breathing, which
Rewards him always in these ways.
This is the section dealing with mindfulness of breathing in the de-
tailed explanation.
OF PURIFICATION
(VISUDDHIMAGGA)
BY
BHADANTACARIYA BUDDHAGHOSA
Translated from the Pali
by
BHIKKHU NANAMOLI
FIFTH EDITION
BUDDHIST PUBLICATION SOCIETY
Kandy Sri Lanka
210. These in-breaths and out-breaths occur striking the tip of the nose in
a long-nosed man [284] and the upper lip in a short-nosed man. So he
should fix the sign thus: 'This is the place where they strike'. This was
why the Blessed One said: 'Bhikkhus, I do not say of one who is forget-
ful, who is not fully aware, [that he practises] development of mindful-
ness of breathing' (M.iii,84).
211. Although any meditation subject, no matter what, is successful only
in one who is mindful and fully aware, yet any meditation subject other
than this one gets more evident as he goes on giving it his attention. But
this mindfulness of breathing is difficult, difficult to develop, a field in
which only the minds of Buddhas, Paccekabuddhas, and Buddhas' sons
are at home. It is no trivial matter, nor can it be cultivated by trivial
persons. In proportion as continued attention is given to it, it becomes
more peaceful and more subtle. So strong mindfulness and understand-
ing are necessary here.
212. Just as when doing needlework on a piece of fine cloth a fine needle
is needed, and a still finer instrument for boring the needle's eye, so too,
when developing this meditation subject, which resembles fine cloth,
both the mindfulness, which is the counterpart of the needle, and the
understanding associated with it, which is the counterpart of the instru-
ment for boring the needle's eye, need to be strong. A bhikkhu must
have the necessary mindfulness and understanding and must look for the
in-breaths and out-breaths nowhere else than the place normally touched
by them.
213. Suppose a ploughman, after doing some ploughing, sent his oxen
free to graze and sat down to rest in the shade, then his oxen would soon
go into the forest. Now a skilled ploughman who wants to catch them
and yoke them again does not wander through the forest following their
tracks, but rather he takes his rope and goad and goes straight to the
drinking place where they meet, and he sits or lies there. Then after the
oxen have wandered about for a part of the day, they come to the drink-
ing place where they meet and they bathe and drink, and when he sees
that they have come out and are standing about, he secures them with the
rope, and prodding them with the goad, he brings them back, yokes
them, and goes on with his ploughing. So too, the bhikkhu should not
look for the in-breaths and out-breaths anywhere else than the place nor-
mally touched by them. And he should take the rope of mindfulness and
the goad of understanding, and fixing his mind on the place normally
touched by them, he should go on giving his attention to that. [285] For
as he gives his attention in this way they reappear after no long time, as
the oxen did at the drinking place where they met. So he can secure them
with the rope of mindfulness, and yoking them in that same place and
prodding them with the goad of understanding, he can keep on applying
himself to the meditation subject.
214. When he does so in this way, the sign58
soon appears to him. But it
is not the same for all; on the contrary, some say that when it appears it
does so to certain people producing a light touch like cotton or silk-
cotton or a draught.
215. But this is the exposition given in the commentaries: It appears to
some like a star or a cluster of gems or a cluster of pearls, to others with
a rough touch like that of silk-cotton seeds or a peg made of heartwood,
to others like a long braid string or a wreath of flowers or a puff of
smoke, to others like a stretched-out cobweb or a film of cloud or a lotus
flower or a chariot wheel or the moon's disk or the sun's disk.
216. In fact this resembles an occasion when a number of bhikkhus are
sitting together reciting a suttanta. When a bhikkhu asks, 'What does this
sutta appear like to you?', one says, 'It appears to me like a great moun-
tain torrent', another 'To me it is like a line of forest trees', another 'To
me it is like a spreading fruit tree giving cool shade'. For the one sutta
appears to them differently because of the difference in their perception.
Similarly this single meditation subject appears differently because of
difference in perception.
59
It is born of perception, its source is percep-
tion, it is produced by perception. Therefore it should be understood that
when it appears differently it is because of difference in perception.
217. And here, the consciousness that has in-breath as its object is one,
the consciousness that has out-breath as its object is another, and the
consciousness that has the sign as its object is another. For the medita-
tion subject reaches neither absorption nor even access in one who has
not got these three things [clear]. But it reaches access and also absorp-
tion in one who has got these three things [clear]. For this is said:
'Sign, in-breath, out-breath, are not object
Of a single consciousness;
By one who knows not these three things
Development is not obtained.
'Sign, in-breath, out-breath, are not object
Of a single consciousness;
By one who does know these three things
Development can be obtained' (Ps.i,170). [286]
218. And when the sign has appeared in this way, the bhikkhu should go
to the teacher and tell him, 'Venerable sir, such and such has appeared to
me'. But [say the Digha reciters] the teacher should say neither 'This is
the sign' nor 'This is not the sign'; after saying 'It happens like this,
friend', he should tell him, 'Go on giving it attention again and again';
for if he were told 'It is the sign', he might [become complacent and]
stop short at that (see M.i,193f.), and if he were told 'It is not the sign',
he might get discouraged and give up; so he should encourage him to
keep giving it his attention without saying either. So the Digha reciters
say, firstly. But the Majjhima reciters say that he should be told, 'This is
the sign, friend. Well done. Keep giving attention to it again and again'.
219. Then he should fix his mind on that same sign; and so from now on,
his development proceeds by way of fixing. For the Ancients said this:
'Fixing his mind upon the sign
And putting away60
extraneous aspects,
The clever man anchors his mind
Upon the breathings in and out'.
220. So as soon as the sign appears, his hindrances are suppressed, his de-
filements subside, his mindfulness is established, and his consciousness
is concentrated in access concentration.
221. Then he should not give attention to the sign as to its colour, or
review it as to its [specific] characteristic. He should guard it as carefully
as a king's chief queen guards the child in her womb due to become a
Wheel-turning Monarch,
61
or as a farmer guards the ripening crops; and
he should avoid the seven unsuitable things beginning with the unsuit-
able abode and cultivate the seven suitable things. Then, guarding it
thus, he should make it grow and improve with repeated attention, and
he should practise the tenfold skill in absorption (Ch. IV, §42) and bring
about evenness of energy (Ch. IV, §66).
222. As he strives thus, fourfold and fivefold jhana is achieved by him on
that same sign in the same way as described under the earth kasina.
5-8. (See §189) However, when a bhikkhu has achieved the fourfold
and fivefold jhana and wants to reach purity by developing the medita-
tion subject through observing and through turning away, he should
make that jhana familiar by attaining mastery in it in the five ways (Ch.
IV, §131), and then embark upon insight by defining mentality-material-
ity. How?
223. On emerging from the attainment, [287] he sees that the in-breaths
and out-breaths have the physical body and the mind as their origin; and
that just as, when a blacksmith's bellows are being blown, the wind
moves owing to the bag and to the man's appropriate effort, so too, in-
breaths and out-breaths are due to the body and the mind.
Next, he defines the in-breaths and out-breaths and the body as
'materiality', and the consciousness and the states associated with the
consciousness as 'the immaterial [mind]'. This is in brief (cf. MA.i,249);
but the details will be explained later in the defining of mentality-materi-
ality (Ch. XVIII, §3f.).
224. Having defined mentality-materiality in this way, he seeks its condi-
tion. With search he finds it, and so overcomes his doubts about the way
of mentality-materiality's occurrence in the three divisions of time
(Ch. XIX).
His doubts being overcome, he attributes the three characteristics
[beginning with that of suffering to mentality and materiality], compre-
hending [them] by groups (Ch. XX, §2f.); he abandons the ten imperfec-
tions of insight beginning with illumination, which arise in the first
stages of the contemplation of rise and fall (Ch. XX, §105f.), and he de-
fines as 'the path' the knowledge of the way that is free from these
imperfections (Ch. XX, §126f.).
He reaches contemplation of dissolution by abandoning [attention
to] arising. When all formations have appeared as terror owing to the
contemplation of their incessant dissolution, he becomes dispassionate
towards them (Ch. XXI), his greed for them fades away, and he is liber-
ated from them (Ch. XXII).
After he has [thus] reached the four noble paths in due succession
and has become established in the fruition of Arahantship, he at last
attains to the nineteen kinds of reviewing knowledge (Ch. XXII, §19f.),
and he becomes fit to receive the highest gifts from the world with its
deities.
225. At this point his development of concentration through mindfulness
of breathing, beginning with counting and ending with looking back
(§189) is completed. This is the commentary on the first tetrad in all
aspects.
[Word Commentary Continued—Second Tetrad]
226. Now since there is no separate method for developing the medita-
tion subject in the case of the other tetrads, their meaning therefore
needs only to be understood according to the word commentary.
(v) He trains thus: 7shall breathe in ... shall breathe out experienc-
ing happiness', that is, making happiness known, making it plain. Herein,
the happiness is experienced in two ways: (a) with the object, and (b)
with non-confusion.
62
227. (a) How is the happiness experienced with the object? He attains the
two jhanas in which happiness is present. At the time when he has
actually entered upon them the happiness is experienced with the object
owing to the obtaining of the jhana, because of the experiencing of the
object, (b) How with non-confusion? When, after entering upon and
emerging from one of the two jhanas accompanied by happiness, [288]
he comprehends with insight that happiness associated with the jhana as
liable to destruction and to fall, then at the actual time of the insight the
happiness is experienced with non-confusion owing to the penetration of
its characteristics [of impermanence, and so on].
228. For this is said in the PatisambhidA: 'When he knows unification of
mind and non-distraction through long in-breaths, mindfulness is estab-
lished in him. By means of that mindfulness and that knowledge that
happiness is experienced. When he knows unification of mind and non-
distraction through long out-breaths ... through short in-breaths ... through
short out-breaths ... through in-breaths ... out-breaths experiencing the
whole body ... through in-breaths ... out-breaths tranquillizing the bod-
ily formation, mindfulness is established in him. By means of that mind-
fulness and that knowledge that happiness is experienced.
'It is experienced by him when he adverts, when he knows, sees,
reviews, steadies his mind, resolves with faith, exerts energy, establishes
mindfulness, concentrates his mind, understands with understanding, di-
rectly knows what is to be directly known, fully understands what is to
be fully understood, abandons what is to be abandoned, develops what is
to be developed, realizes what is to be realized. It is in this way that that
happiness is experienced* (Ps.i,187).
229. (vi)-(viii) The remaining [three] clauses should be understood in the
same way as to meaning; but there is this difference here. The experienc-
ing of bliss must be understood to be through three jhanas, and that of
the mental formation through four. The mental formation consists of the
two aggregates of feeling and perception. And in the case of the clause,
experiencing bliss, it is said in the Patisambhida in order to show the
plane of insight here [as well]: ' "Bliss": there are two kinds of bliss,
bodily bliss and mental bliss' (Ps.i,188). Tranquillizing the mental for-
mation: tranquillizing the gross mental formation; stopping it, is the
meaning. And this should be understood in detail in the same way as
given under the bodily formation (see §§176-85).
230. Here, moreover, in the 'happiness' clause feeling [which is actually
being contemplated in this tetrad] is stated under the heading of 'happi-
ness' [which is a formation] but in the 'bliss' clause feeling is stated in
its own form. In the two 'mental-formation' clauses the feeling is that
[necessarily] associated with perception because of the words, 'Percep-
tion and feeling belong to the mind, these things being bound up with the
mind are mental formations' (Ps.i,188). [289]
So this tetrad should be understood to deal with contemplation of
feeling.
[Word Commentary Continued—Third Tetrad]
231. (ix) In the third tetrad the experiencing of the [manner of\ con-
sciousness must be understood to be through four jhanas.
(x) Gladdening the [manner of] consciousness: he trains thus: 'Making
the mind glad, instilling gladness into it, cheering it, rejoicing it, I shall
breathe in, shall breathe out'. Herein, there is gladdening in two ways,
through concentration and through insight.
How through concentration? He attains the two jhanas in which hap-
piness is present. At the time when he has actually entered upon them he
inspires the mind with gladness, instils gladness into it, by means of the
happiness associated with the jhana. How through insight? After enter-
ing upon and emerging from one of the two jhanas accompanied by
happiness, he comprehends with insight that happiness associated with
the jhana as liable to destruction and to fall; thus at the actual time of
insight he inspires the mind with gladness, instils gladness into it, by
making the happiness associated with the jhana the object.
It is of one progressing in this way that the words, 'He trains thus: "I
shall breathe in ... shall breathe out gladdening the [manner of] con-
sciousness" \ are said.
232. (xi) Concentrating (samddaham) the [manner of] consciousness:
evenly (samarti) placing (ddahanto) the mind, evenly putting it on its
object by means of the first jhana and so on. Or alternatively, when,
having entered upon those jhanas and emerged from them, he compre-
hends with insight the consciousness associated with the jhana as liable
to destruction and to fall, then at the actual time of insight momentary
unification of the mind63
arises through the penetration of the character-
istics [of impermanence, and so on]. Thus the words, 'He trains thus: "I
shall breathe in ... shall breathe out concentrating the [manner of] con-
sciousness" \ are said also of one who evenly places the mind, evenly
puts it on its object by means of the momentary unification of the mind
arisen thus.
233. (xii) Liberating the [manner of\ consciousness: he both breathes in
and breathes out delivering, liberating, the mind from the hindrances by
means of the first jhana, from applied and sustained thought by means of
the second, from happiness by means of the third, from pleasure and
pain by means of the fourth. Or alternatively, when, having entered upon
those jhanas and emerged from them, he comprehends with insight the
consciousness associated with the jhana as liable to destruction and to
fall, then at the actual time of insight he delivers, liberates, the mind
from the perception of permanence by means of the contemplation of
impermanence, from the perception of pleasure by means of the contem-
plation of pain, from the perception of self by means of the contempla-
tion of not self, from delight by means of the contemplation of dispas-
sion, from greed by means of the contemplation of fading away, from
arousing by means of the contemplation of cessation, from grasping by
means of the contemplation of relinquishment. Hence it is said: [290]
'He trains thus: "I shall breathe in ... shall breathe out liberating the
[manner of] consciousness" \
64
So this tetrad should be understood to deal with contemplation of
mind.
[Word Commentary Continued—Fourth Tetrad]
234. (xiii) But in the fourth tetrad, as to contemplating impermanence,
here firstly, the impermanent should be understood, and impermanence,
and the contemplation of impermanence, and one contemplating imper-
manence.
Herein, the five aggregates are the impermanent. Why? Because
their essence is rise and fall and change. Impermanence is the rise and
fall and change in those same aggregates, or it is their non-existence
after having been; the meaning is, it is the breakup of produced aggre-
gates through their momentary dissolution since they do not remain in
the same mode. Contemplation of impermanence is contemplation of
materiality, etc., as 'impermanent' in virtue of that impermanence. One
contemplating impermanence possesses that contemplation. So it is when
one such as this is breathing in and breathing out that it can be under-
stood of him: 'He trains thus: "I shall breathe in ... shall breathe out
contemplating impermanence" \
65
235. (xiv) Contemplating fading away: there are two kinds of fading
away, that is, fading away as destruction, and absolute fading away.
66
Herein, 'fading away as destruction' is the momentary dissolution of
formations. *Absolute fading away' is nibbana. Contemplation of fading
away is insight and it is the path, which occur as the seeing of these two.
It is when he possesses this twofold contemplation that it can be under-
stood of him: 'He trains thus: "I shall breathe in ... shall breathe out con-
templating fading away" \
(xv) The same method of explanation applies to the clause, contem-
plating cessation.
236. (xvi) Contemplating relinquishment: relinquishment is of two kinds
too, that is to say, relinquishment as giving up, and relinquishment as en-
tering into. Relinquishment itself as [a way of] contemplation is 'con-
templation of relinquishment'. For insight is called both 'relinquishment
as giving up' and 'relinquishment as entering into' since [firstly], through
substitution of opposite qualities, it gives up defilements with their ag-
gregate-producing kamma formations, and [secondly], through seeing
the wretchedness of what is formed, it also enters into nibbana by inclin-
ing towards nibbana, which is the opposite of the formed (Ch. XXI, 18).
Also the path is called both 'relinquishment as giving up' and 'relin-
quishment as entering into' since it gives up defilements with their ag-
gregate-producing kamma-formations by cutting them off, and it enters
into nibbana by making it its object. Also both [insight and path knowl-
edge] are called contemplation \anupassana) because of their re-seeing
successively (anu anu passand) each preceding kind of knowledge.
67
[291] It is when he possesses this twofold contemplation that it can be
understood of him: 'He trains thus: "I shall breathe in ... shall breathe
out contemplating relinquishment"'.
237. This tetrad deals only with pure insight while the previous three deal
with serenity and insight.
This is how the development of mindfulness of breathing with its
sixteen bases in four tetrads should be understood.
[Conclusion]
This mindfulness of breathing with its sixteen bases thus is of great
fruit, of great benefit.
238. Its great beneficialness should be understood here as peacefulness
both because of the words 'And, bhikkhus, this concentration through
mindfulness of breathing, when developed and much practised, is both
peaceful and sublime' (S.v,321), etc., and because of its ability to cut off
applied thoughts; for it is because it is peaceful, sublime, and an unadul-
terated blissful abiding that it cuts off the mind's running hither and
thither with applied thoughts obstructive to concentration, and keeps the
mind only on the breaths as object. Hence it is said: 'Mindfulness of
breathing should be developed in order to cut off applied thoughts'
(A.iv,353).
239. Also its great beneficialness should be understood as the root condi-
tion for the perfecting of clear vision and deliverance; for this has been
said by the Blessed One: 'Bhikkhus, mindfulness of breathing, when de-
veloped and much practised, perfects the four foundations of mindful-
ness. The four foundations of mindfulness, when developed and much
practised, perfect the seven enlightenment factors. The seven enlighten-
ment factors, when developed and much practised, perfect clear vision
and deliverance' (M.iii,82).
240. Again its great beneficialness should be understood to reside in the
fact that it causes the final in-breaths and out-breaths to be known; for
this is said by the Blessed One: 'Rahula, when mindfulness of breathing
is thus developed, thus practised much, the final in-breaths and out-
breaths, too, are known as they cease, not unknown' (M.i,425-26).
241. Herein, there are three kinds of [breaths that are] final because of
cessation, that is to say, final in becoming, final in jhana, and final in
death. For, among the various kinds of becoming (existence), in-breaths
and out-breaths occur in the sensual-sphere becoming, not in the fine-
material and immaterial kinds of becoming. That is why there are final
ones in becoming. In the jhanas they occur in the first three but not in the
fourth. That is why there are final ones in jhana. Those that arise along
with the sixteenth consciousness preceeding the death consciousness [292]
cease together with the death consciousness. They are called 'final in
death'. It is these last that are meant here by 'final'.
242. When a bhikkhu has devoted himself to this meditation subject, it
seems, if he adverts, at the moment of arising of the sixteenth conscious-
ness before the death consciousness, to their arising, then their arising is
evident to him; if he adverts to their presence, then their presence is
evident to him; if he adverts to their dissolution, then their dissolution is
evident to him; and it is so because he has thoroughly discerned in-
breaths and out-breaths as object.
243. When a bhikkhu has attained Arahantship by developing some other
meditation subject than this one, he may be able to define his life term or
not. But when he has reached Arahantship by developing this mindful-
ness of breathing with its sixteen bases, he can always define his life
term. He knows, 'My vital formations will continue now for so long and
no more'. Automatically he performs all the functions of attending to the
body, dressing and robing, etc., after which he closes his eyes, like the
Elder Tissa who lived at the Kotapabbata Monastery, like the Elder
Maha-Tissa who lived at the Maha-Karanjiya Monastery, like the Elder
Tissa the alms-food eater in the kingdom of Devaputta, like the elders
who were brothers and lived at the Cittalapabbata monastery.
244. Here is one story as an illustration. After reciting the Patimokkha, it
seems, on the Uposatha day of the full moon, one of the two elders who
were brothers went to his own dwelling place surrounded by the Com-
munity of Bhikkhus. As he stood on the walk looking at the moonlight
he calculated his own vital formations, and he said to the Community of
Bhikkhus, 'In what way have you seen bhikkhus attaining nibbana up till
now?'. Some answered, 'Till now we have seen them attain nibbana
sitting in their seats'. Others answered, 'We have seen them sitting cross-
legged in the air'. The elder said, 'I shall now show you one attaining
nibbana while walking'. He then drew a line on the walk, saying, 'I shall
go from this end of the walk to the other end and return; when I reach
this line I shall attain nibbana'. So saying, he stepped on to the walk and
went to the far end. On his return he attained nibbana in the same
moment in which he stepped on the line. [293]
So let a man, if he is wise,
Untiringly devote his days
To mindfuness of breathing, which
Rewards him always in these ways.
This is the section dealing with mindfulness of breathing in the de-
tailed explanation.
Visuddhimagga - Other Recollections as Meditation Subjects - Mindfulness of breathing II
THE PATH
OF PURIFICATION
(VISUDDHIMAGGA)
BY
BHADANTACARIYA BUDDHAGHOSA
Translated from the Pali
by
BHIKKHU NANAMOLI
FIFTH EDITION
BUDDHIST PUBLICATION SOCIETY
Kandy Sri Lanka
175. (iv) He trains thus: 7 shall breathe in ... shall breathe out tranquil-
lizing the bodily formation'; he trains thus: 'I shall breathe in, shall
breathe out tranquillizing, completely tranquillizing, stopping, stilling,
the gross bodily formation'.
50
176. And here both the gross and subtle state and also [progressive] tran-
quillizing should be understood. For previously, at the time when the
bhikkhu has still not discerned [the meditation subject], his body and his
mind are disturbed and so they are gross. And while the grossness of the
body and the mind has still not subsided the in-breaths and out-breaths
are gross. They get stronger, his nostrils become inadequate, and he
keeps breathing in and out through his mouth. But they become quiet
and still when his body and mind have been discerned. When they are
still then the in-breaths and out-breaths occur so subtly that he has to
investigate whether they exist or not.
177. Suppose a man stands still after running, or descending from a hill,
or putting down a big load from his head, then his in-breaths and out-
breaths are gross, his nostrils become inadequate, and he keeps on breath-
ing in and out through his mouth. But when he has rid himself of his
fatigue and has bathed and drunk [275] and put a wet cloth on his heart,
and is lying in the cool shade, then his in-breaths and out-breaths eventu-
ally occur so subtly that he has to investigate whether they exist or not;
so too, previously, at the time when the bhikkhu has still not discerned,
... he has to investigate whether they exist or not.
178. Why is that? Because previously, at the time when he has still not
discerned, there is no concern in him, no reaction, no attention, no re-
viewing, to the effect that * I am [progressively] tranquillizing each grosser
bodily formation*. But when he has discerned, there is. So his bodily
formation at the time when he has discerned is subtle in comparison with
that at the time when he has not. Hence the Ancients said:
'The mind and body are disturbed,
And then in excess it occurs;
But when the body is undisturbed,
Then it with subtlety occurs*.
179. In discerning [the meditation subject the formation] is gross, and it
is subtle [by comparison] in the first-jhana access; also it is gross in that,
and subtle [by comparison] in the first jhana; in the first jhana and
second-jhana access it is gross, and in the second jhana subtle; in the
second jhana and third-jhana access it is gross, and in the third jhana
subtle; in the third jhana and fourth-jhana access it is gross, and in the
fourth jhana it is so exceedingly subtle that it even reaches cessation.
This is the opinion of the Digha and Samyutta reciters. But the Majjhima
reciters have it that it is subtler in each access than in the jhana below
too in this way: In the first jhana it is gross, and in the second-jhana
access it is subtle [by comparison, and so on]. It is, however, the opinion
of all that the bodily formation occurring before the time of discerning
becomes tranquillized at the time of discerning, and the bodily formation
at the time of discerning becomes tranquillized in the first-jhana access
... and the bodily formation occurring in the fourth-jhana access be-
comes tranquillized in the fourth jhana. This is the method of explana-
tion in the case of serenity.
180. But in the case of insight, the bodily formation occurring at the time
of not discerning is gross, and in discerning the primary elements it is
[by comparison] subtle; that also is gross, and in discerning derived
materiality it is subtle; that also is gross, and in discerning all materiality
it is subtle; that also is gross, and in discerning the immaterial it is
subtle; that also is gross, and in discerning the material and immaterial it
is subtle; that also is gross, and in discerning conditions it is subtle; that
also is gross, and in seeing mentality-materiality with its conditions it is
subtle; that also is gross, and in insight that has the characteristics [of
impermanence, etc.,] as its object it is subtle; that also is gross in weak
insight while in strong insight it is subtle.
Herein, the tranquillizing should be understood as [the relative tran-
quillity] of the subsequent compared with the previous. Thus should the
gross and subtle state, and the [progressive] tranquillizing, be understood
here. [276]
181. But the meaning of this is given in the Patisambhida together with
the objection and clarification thus:
'How is it that he trains thus: "I shall breathe in ... shall breathe out
tranquillizing the bodily formation? What are the bodily formations?
Long in-breaths ... out-breaths [experiencing the whole body] belong to
the body; these things, being bound up with the body, are bodily forma-
tions; he trains in tranquillizing, stopping, stilling, those bodily forma-
tions.
'When there are such bodily formations whereby there is bending
backwards, sideways in all directions, and forwards, and perturbation,
vacillation, moving and shaking of the body, he trains thus: "I shall
breathe in tranquillizing the bodily formation"; he trains thus: "I shall
breathe out tranquillizing the bodily formation". When there are such
bodily formations whereby there is no bending backwards, sideways in
all directions, and forwards, and no perturbation, vacillation, moving and
shaking of the body, quietly, subtly, he trains thus: "I shall breathe in
tranquillizing the bodily formation"; he trains thus: "I shall breathe out
tranquillizing the bodily formation".
182. * [Objection:] So then, he trains thus: "I shall breathe in tranquilliz-
ing the bodily formation"; he trains thus: "I shall breathe out tranquilliz-
ing the bodily formation": that being so, there is no production of aware-
ness of wind, and there is no production of in-breaths and out-breaths,
and there is no production of mindfulness of breathing, and there is no
production of concentration through mindfulness of breathing, and con-
sequently the wise neither enter into nor emerge from that attainment.
183. * [Clarification:] So then, he trains thus: "I shall breathe in tranquil-
lizing the bodily formation"; he trains thus: "I shall breathe out tranquil-
lizing the bodily formation": that being so, there is production of aware-
ness of wind, and there is production of in-breaths and out-breaths, and
there is production of mindfulness of breathing, and there is production
of concentration through mindfulness of breathing, and consequently the
wise enter into and emerge from that attainment.
184. *Like what? Just as when a gong is struck. At first gross sounds
occur and consciousness [occurs] because the sign of the gross sounds is
well apprehended, well attended to, well observed; and when the gross
sounds have ceased, then afterwards faint sounds occur and [conscious-
ness occurs] because the sign of the faint sounds is well apprehended,
well attended to, well observed; and when the faint sounds have ceased,
then [277] afterwards consciousness occurs because it has the sign of the
faint sounds as its object
51
—so too, at first gross in-breaths and out-
breaths occur and [consciousness does not become distracted] because
the sign of the gross in-breaths and out-breaths is well apprehended, well
attended to, well observed; and when the gross in-breaths and out-breaths
have ceased, then afterwards faint in-breaths and out-breaths occur and
[consciousness does not become distracted] because the sign of the faint
in-breaths and out-breaths is well apprehended, well attended to, well
observed; and when the faint in-breaths and out-breaths have ceased,
then afterwards consciousness does not become distracted because it has
the sign of the faint in-breaths and out-breaths as its object.
*That being so, there is production of awareness of wind, and there
is production of in-breaths and out-breaths, and there is production of
mindfulness of breathing, and there is production of concentration through
mindfulness of breathing, and consequently the wise enter into and emerge
from that attainment.
185.
4
In-breaths and out-breaths tranquillizing the bodily formation are a
body. The establishment (foundation) is mindfulness. The contemplation
is knowledge. The body is the establishment (foundation), but it is not
the mindfulness. Mindfulness is both the establishment (foundation) and
the mindfulness. By means of that mindfulness and that knowledge he
contemplates that body. That is why "development of the foundation (es-
tablishment) of mindfulness consisting in contemplation of the body as a
body" is said' (Ps.i, 184-86).
This, in the first place, is the consecutive word commentary here on
the first tetrad, which deals with contemplation of the body.
[Method of Development]
186. The first tetrad is set forth as a meditation subject for a beginner;
32
but the other three tetrads are [respectively] set forth as the contempla-
tions of feeling, of [the manner of] consciousness, and of mental objects,
for one who has already attained jhana in this tetrad. So if a clansman
who is a beginner wants to develop this meditation subject, and through
insight based on the fourth jhana produced in breathing, to reach Ara-
hantship together with the discriminations, he should first do all the
work connected with the purification of virtue, etc., in the way already
described, after which he should learn the meditation subject in five
stages from a teacher of the kind already described.
187. Here are the five stages: learning, questioning, establishing, absorp-
tion, characteristic.
Herein, learning is learning the meditation subject. Questioning is
questioning about the meditation subject. Establishing is establishing the
meditation subject. Absorption [278] is the absorption of the meditation
subject. Characteristic is the characteristic of the meditation subject;
what is meant is that it is the ascertaining of the meditation subject's
individual essence thus: 'This meditation subject has such a characteris-
tic'.
188. Learning the meditation subject in the five stages in this way, he
neither tires himself nor worries the teacher.
So in giving this meditation subject consisting in mindfulness of
breathing attention he can live either with the teacher or elsewhere in an
abode of the kind already described, learning the meditation subject in
the five stages thus, getting a little expounded at a time and taking a long
time over reciting it. He should sever the minor impediments. After fin-
ishing the work connected with the meal and getting rid of any dizziness
due to the meal, he should seat himself comfortably. Then, making sure
he is not confused about even a single word of what he has learned from
the teacher, he should cheer his mind by recollecting the special qualities
of the Three Jewels.
189. Here are the stages in giving attention to it: (1) counting, (2) con-
nexion, (3) touching, (4) fixing, (5) observing, (6) turning away, (7)
purification, and (8) looking back on these.
Herein, counting is just counting, connexion is carrying on, touching
is the place touched [by the breaths], fixing is absorption, observing is
insight, turning away is the path, purification is fruition, looking back on
these is reviewing.
190. 1. Herein, this clansman who is a beginner should first give atten-
tion to this meditation subject by counting. And when counting, he should
not stop short of five or go beyond ten or make any break in the series.
By stopping short of five his thoughts get excited in the cramped space,
like a herd of cattle shut in a cramped pen. By going beyond ten his
thoughts take the number [rather than the breaths] for their support. By
making a break in the series he wonders if the meditation subject has
reached completion or not. So he should do his counting without those
faults.
191. When counting, he should at first do it slowly [that is, late] as a
grain measurer does. For a grain measurer, having filled his measure,
says 'One', and empties it, and then refilling it, he goes on saying 'One,
one' while removing any rubbish he may have noticed. And the same
with 'Two, two', and so on. So, taking the in-breath or the out-breath,
whichever appears [most plainly], he should begin with 'One, one' [279]
and count up to 'Ten, ten', noting each as it occurs.
192. As he does his counting in this way, the in-breaths and out-breaths
become evident to him as they enter in and issue out. Then he can leave
off counting slowly (late), like a grain measurer, and he can count quickly
[that is, early] as a cowherd does. For a skilled cowherd takes pebbles in
his pocket and goes to the cow pen in the morning, whip in hand; sitting
on the bar of the gate, prodding the cows in the back, he counts each one
as it reaches the gate, saying 'One, two', dropping a pebble for each.
And the cows of the herd, which have been spending the three watches
of the night uncomfortably in the cramped space, come out quickly in
parties, jostling each other as they escape. So he counts quickly (early)
'Three, four, five' and so up to ten. In this way the in-breaths and out-
breaths, which had already become evident to him while he counted
them in the former way, now keep moving along quickly.
193. Then, knowing that they keep moving along quickly, not apprehend-
ing them either inside or outside [the body], but apprehending them just
as they reach the [nostril] door, he can do his counting quickly (early):
'One, two, three, four, five; one, two, three, four, five, six; ... seven; ...
eight;... nine;... ten'. For as long as the meditation subject is connected
with counting it is with the help of that very counting that the mind
becomes unified, just as a boat in a swift current is steadied with the help
of a rudder.
194. When he counts quickly, the meditation subject becomes apparent to
him as an uninterrupted process. Then, knowing that it is proceeding un-
interruptedly, he can count quickly (early) in the way just described, not
discerning the wind either inside or outside [the body]. For by bringing
his consciousness inside along with the incoming breath, it seems as if it
were buffeted by the wind inside or filled with fat.
53
By taking his
consciousness outside along with the outgoing breath, it gets distracted
by the multiplicity of objects outside. However, his development is
successful when he fixes his mindfulness on the place touched [by
the breaths]. That is why it was said above: 'He can count quickly
(early) in the way just described, not discerning the wind either inside or
outside'.
195. But how long is he to go on counting? Until, without counting,
[280] mindfulness remains settled on the in-breaths and out-breaths as its
object. For counting is simply a device for setting mindfulness on the
in-breaths and out-breaths as object by cutting off the external dissipa-
tion of applied thoughts.
196. 2. Having given attention to it in this way by counting, he should
now do so by connexion. Connexion is the uninterrupted following of the
in-breaths and out-breaths with mindfulness after counting has been given
up. And that is not by following after the beginning, middle and end.
54
197. The navel is the beginning of the wind issuing out, the heart is its
middle and the nose-tip is its end. The nose-tip is the beginning of the
wind entering in, the heart is its middle and the navel is its end. And if
he follows after that, his mind is distracted by disquiet and perturbation,
according as it is said: 'When he goes in with mindfulness after the
beginning, middle and end of the in-breath, his mind being distracted
internally, both his body and his mind are disquieted and perturbed and
shaky. When he goes out with mindfulness after the beginning, middle
and end of the out-breath, his mind being distracted externally, both his
body and his mind are disquieted and perturbed and shaky' (Ps.i,165).
3-4. So when he gives his attention to it by connexion, he should
do so not by the beginning, middle and end, but rather by touching and
by fixing.
198. There is no attention to be given to it by touching separate from
fixing as there is by counting separate from connexion. But when he is
counting the breaths in the place touched by each, he is giving attention
to them by counting and touching. When he has given up counting and is
connecting them by means of mindfulness in that same place and fixing
consciousness by means of absorption, then he is said to be giving his
attention to them by connexion, touching and fixing. And the meaning of
this may be understood through the similes of the man who cannot walk
and the gate-keeper given in the commentaries, and through the simile of
the saw given in the Patisambhida.
199. Here is the simile of the man who cannot walk: Just as a man unable
to walk, who is rocking a swing for the amusement of his children and
their mother, sits at the foot of the swing post and sees both ends and the
middle of the swing plank successively coming and going, [281] yet
does not move from his place in order to see both ends and the middle,
so too, when a bhikkhu places himself with mindfulness, as it were, at
the foot of the post for anchoring [mindfulness] and rocks the swing of
the in-breaths and out-breaths; he sits down with mindfulness on the sign
at that same place, and follows with mindfulness the beginning, middle
and end of the in-breaths and out-breaths at the place touched by them as
they come and go; keeping his mind fixed there, he then sees them
without moving from his place in order to see them. This is the simile of
the man who cannot walk.
200. This is the simile of the gate-keeper: Just as a gate-keeper does not
examine people inside and outside the town, asking 'Who are you? Where
have you come from? Where are you going? What have you got in your
hand?'—for those people are not his concern—but he does examine each
man as he arrives at the gate, so too, the inconling breaths that have gone
inside and the outgoing breaths that have gone outside are not this
bhikkhu's concern, but they are his concern each time they arrive at the
[nostril] gate itself.
201. Then the simile of the saw should be understood from its beginning.
For this is said:
4
Sign, in-breath, out-breath, are not object
Of a single consciousness;
By one who knows not these three things
Development is not obtained.
'Sign, in-breath, out-breath, are not object
Of a single consciousness;
By one who does know these three things
Development can be obtained.
202. 'How is it that these three things are not the object of a single con-
sciousness, that they are nevertheless not unknown, that the mind does
not become distracted, that he manifests effort, carries out a task, and
achieves an effect?
'Suppose there were a tree trunk placed on a level piece of ground,
and a man cut it with a saw. The man's mindfulness is established by the
saw's teeth where they touch the tree trunk, without his giving attention
to the saw's teeth as they approach and recede, though they are not
unknown to him as they do so; and he manifests effort, carries out a task,
and achieves an effect. As the tree trunk placed on the level piece of
ground, so the sign for the anchoring of mindfulness. As the saw's teeth,
so the in-breaths and out-breaths. As the man's mindfulness, established
by the saw's teeth where they touch the tree trunk, without his giving
attention to the saw's teeth as they approach and recede, though they are
not unknown to him as they do so, and so he manifests effort, carries out
a task, and achieves an effect, [282] so too, the bhikkhu sits, having es-
tablished mindfulness at the nose tip or on the upper lip, without giving
attention to the in-breaths and out-breaths as they approach and recede,
though they are not unknown to him as they do so, and he manifests
effort, carries out a task, and achieves an effect.
203. ' "Effort": what is the effort? The body and the mind of one who is
energetic become wieldy—this is the effort. What is the task? Imperfec-
tions come to be abandoned in one who is energetic, and his applied
thoughts are stilled—this is the task. What is the effect? Fetters come to
be abandoned in one who is energetic, and his inherent tendencies come
to be done away with—this is the effect.
'So these three things are not the object of a single consciousness,
and they are nevertheless not unknown, and the mind does not become
distracted, and he manifests effort, carries out a task, and achieves an
effect.
'Whose mindfulness of breathing in
And out is perfect, well developed,
And gradually brought to growth
According as the Buddha taught,
Tis he illuminates the world
Just like the full moon free from cloud' (Ps.i, 170-72; last
line Dh. 172: whole verse Thag. 548).
This is the simile of the saw. But here it is precisely his not giving
attention [to the breaths] as [yet to] come and [already] gone
55
that
should be understood as the purpose.
204. When someone gives his attention to this meditation subject, some-
times it is not long before the sign arises in him, and then the fixing, in
other words, absorption adorned with the rest of the jhana factors, is
achieved.
205. After someone has given his attention to counting, then just as when
a body that is disturbed sits down on a bed or chair, the bed or chair sags
down and creaks and the cover gets rumpled, but when a body that is not
disturbed sits down, the bed or chair neither sags down nor creaks, the
cover does not get rumpled, and it is as though filled with cotton-wool—
why? because a body that is not disturbed is light—so too, after he has
given his attention to counting, when the bodily disturbance has been
stilled by the gradual cessation of gross in-breaths and out-breaths, then
both the body and the mind become light: the physical body is as though
it were ready to leap up into the air. [283]
206. When his gross in-breaths and out breaths have ceased, his con-
sciousness occurs with the sign of the subtle in-breaths and out-breaths
as its object. And when that has ceased, it goes on occurring with the
successively subtler signs as its object. How?
207. Suppose a man stuck a bronze bell with a big iron bar and at once a
loud sound arose, his consciousness would occur with the gross sound as
its object; then, when the gross sound had ceased, it would occur after-
wards with the sign of the subtle sound as its object; and when that had
ceased, it would go on occurring with the sign of the successively subtler
sounds as its object. This is how it should be understood. And this is
given in detail in the passage beginning 'Just as when a metal gong is
struck' (§184).
208. For while other meditation subjects become clearer at each higher
stage, this one does not: in fact, as he goes on developing it, it becomes
more subtle for him at each higher stage, and it even comes to the point
at which it is no longer manifest.
However, when it becomes unmanifest in this way, the bhikkhu
should not get up from his seat, shake out his leather mat, and go away.
What should be done? He should not get up with the idea 'Shall I ask
the teacher?' or 'Is my meditation subject lost?'; for by going away, and
so disturbing his posture, the meditation subject has to be started anew.
So he should go on sitting as he was and [temporarily] substitute the
place [normally touched for the actual breaths as the object of contem-
plation].
56
209. These are the means for doing it. The bhikkhu should recognize the
unmanifest state of the meditation subject and consider thus: 'Where do
these in-breaths and out-breaths exist? Where do they not? In whom do
they exist? In whom not?'. Then, as he considers thus, he finds that they
do not exist in one inside the mother's womb, or in those drowned in
water, or likewise in unconscious beings,
57
or in the dead, or in those
attained to the fourth jhana, or in those born into a fine-material or
immaterial existence, or in those attained to cessation [of perception and
feeling]. So he should apostrophize himself thus: 'You with all your
wisdom are certainly not inside a mother's womb or drowned in water or
in the unconscious existence or dead or attained to the fourth jhana or
born into the fine-material or immaterial existence or attained to cessa-
tion. Those in-breaths and out-breaths are actually existent in you, only
you are not able to discern them because your understanding is dull'.
Then, fixing his mind on the place normally touched [by the breaths], he
should proceed to give his attention to that.
OF PURIFICATION
(VISUDDHIMAGGA)
BY
BHADANTACARIYA BUDDHAGHOSA
Translated from the Pali
by
BHIKKHU NANAMOLI
FIFTH EDITION
BUDDHIST PUBLICATION SOCIETY
Kandy Sri Lanka
175. (iv) He trains thus: 7 shall breathe in ... shall breathe out tranquil-
lizing the bodily formation'; he trains thus: 'I shall breathe in, shall
breathe out tranquillizing, completely tranquillizing, stopping, stilling,
the gross bodily formation'.
50
176. And here both the gross and subtle state and also [progressive] tran-
quillizing should be understood. For previously, at the time when the
bhikkhu has still not discerned [the meditation subject], his body and his
mind are disturbed and so they are gross. And while the grossness of the
body and the mind has still not subsided the in-breaths and out-breaths
are gross. They get stronger, his nostrils become inadequate, and he
keeps breathing in and out through his mouth. But they become quiet
and still when his body and mind have been discerned. When they are
still then the in-breaths and out-breaths occur so subtly that he has to
investigate whether they exist or not.
177. Suppose a man stands still after running, or descending from a hill,
or putting down a big load from his head, then his in-breaths and out-
breaths are gross, his nostrils become inadequate, and he keeps on breath-
ing in and out through his mouth. But when he has rid himself of his
fatigue and has bathed and drunk [275] and put a wet cloth on his heart,
and is lying in the cool shade, then his in-breaths and out-breaths eventu-
ally occur so subtly that he has to investigate whether they exist or not;
so too, previously, at the time when the bhikkhu has still not discerned,
... he has to investigate whether they exist or not.
178. Why is that? Because previously, at the time when he has still not
discerned, there is no concern in him, no reaction, no attention, no re-
viewing, to the effect that * I am [progressively] tranquillizing each grosser
bodily formation*. But when he has discerned, there is. So his bodily
formation at the time when he has discerned is subtle in comparison with
that at the time when he has not. Hence the Ancients said:
'The mind and body are disturbed,
And then in excess it occurs;
But when the body is undisturbed,
Then it with subtlety occurs*.
179. In discerning [the meditation subject the formation] is gross, and it
is subtle [by comparison] in the first-jhana access; also it is gross in that,
and subtle [by comparison] in the first jhana; in the first jhana and
second-jhana access it is gross, and in the second jhana subtle; in the
second jhana and third-jhana access it is gross, and in the third jhana
subtle; in the third jhana and fourth-jhana access it is gross, and in the
fourth jhana it is so exceedingly subtle that it even reaches cessation.
This is the opinion of the Digha and Samyutta reciters. But the Majjhima
reciters have it that it is subtler in each access than in the jhana below
too in this way: In the first jhana it is gross, and in the second-jhana
access it is subtle [by comparison, and so on]. It is, however, the opinion
of all that the bodily formation occurring before the time of discerning
becomes tranquillized at the time of discerning, and the bodily formation
at the time of discerning becomes tranquillized in the first-jhana access
... and the bodily formation occurring in the fourth-jhana access be-
comes tranquillized in the fourth jhana. This is the method of explana-
tion in the case of serenity.
180. But in the case of insight, the bodily formation occurring at the time
of not discerning is gross, and in discerning the primary elements it is
[by comparison] subtle; that also is gross, and in discerning derived
materiality it is subtle; that also is gross, and in discerning all materiality
it is subtle; that also is gross, and in discerning the immaterial it is
subtle; that also is gross, and in discerning the material and immaterial it
is subtle; that also is gross, and in discerning conditions it is subtle; that
also is gross, and in seeing mentality-materiality with its conditions it is
subtle; that also is gross, and in insight that has the characteristics [of
impermanence, etc.,] as its object it is subtle; that also is gross in weak
insight while in strong insight it is subtle.
Herein, the tranquillizing should be understood as [the relative tran-
quillity] of the subsequent compared with the previous. Thus should the
gross and subtle state, and the [progressive] tranquillizing, be understood
here. [276]
181. But the meaning of this is given in the Patisambhida together with
the objection and clarification thus:
'How is it that he trains thus: "I shall breathe in ... shall breathe out
tranquillizing the bodily formation? What are the bodily formations?
Long in-breaths ... out-breaths [experiencing the whole body] belong to
the body; these things, being bound up with the body, are bodily forma-
tions; he trains in tranquillizing, stopping, stilling, those bodily forma-
tions.
'When there are such bodily formations whereby there is bending
backwards, sideways in all directions, and forwards, and perturbation,
vacillation, moving and shaking of the body, he trains thus: "I shall
breathe in tranquillizing the bodily formation"; he trains thus: "I shall
breathe out tranquillizing the bodily formation". When there are such
bodily formations whereby there is no bending backwards, sideways in
all directions, and forwards, and no perturbation, vacillation, moving and
shaking of the body, quietly, subtly, he trains thus: "I shall breathe in
tranquillizing the bodily formation"; he trains thus: "I shall breathe out
tranquillizing the bodily formation".
182. * [Objection:] So then, he trains thus: "I shall breathe in tranquilliz-
ing the bodily formation"; he trains thus: "I shall breathe out tranquilliz-
ing the bodily formation": that being so, there is no production of aware-
ness of wind, and there is no production of in-breaths and out-breaths,
and there is no production of mindfulness of breathing, and there is no
production of concentration through mindfulness of breathing, and con-
sequently the wise neither enter into nor emerge from that attainment.
183. * [Clarification:] So then, he trains thus: "I shall breathe in tranquil-
lizing the bodily formation"; he trains thus: "I shall breathe out tranquil-
lizing the bodily formation": that being so, there is production of aware-
ness of wind, and there is production of in-breaths and out-breaths, and
there is production of mindfulness of breathing, and there is production
of concentration through mindfulness of breathing, and consequently the
wise enter into and emerge from that attainment.
184. *Like what? Just as when a gong is struck. At first gross sounds
occur and consciousness [occurs] because the sign of the gross sounds is
well apprehended, well attended to, well observed; and when the gross
sounds have ceased, then afterwards faint sounds occur and [conscious-
ness occurs] because the sign of the faint sounds is well apprehended,
well attended to, well observed; and when the faint sounds have ceased,
then [277] afterwards consciousness occurs because it has the sign of the
faint sounds as its object
51
—so too, at first gross in-breaths and out-
breaths occur and [consciousness does not become distracted] because
the sign of the gross in-breaths and out-breaths is well apprehended, well
attended to, well observed; and when the gross in-breaths and out-breaths
have ceased, then afterwards faint in-breaths and out-breaths occur and
[consciousness does not become distracted] because the sign of the faint
in-breaths and out-breaths is well apprehended, well attended to, well
observed; and when the faint in-breaths and out-breaths have ceased,
then afterwards consciousness does not become distracted because it has
the sign of the faint in-breaths and out-breaths as its object.
*That being so, there is production of awareness of wind, and there
is production of in-breaths and out-breaths, and there is production of
mindfulness of breathing, and there is production of concentration through
mindfulness of breathing, and consequently the wise enter into and emerge
from that attainment.
185.
4
In-breaths and out-breaths tranquillizing the bodily formation are a
body. The establishment (foundation) is mindfulness. The contemplation
is knowledge. The body is the establishment (foundation), but it is not
the mindfulness. Mindfulness is both the establishment (foundation) and
the mindfulness. By means of that mindfulness and that knowledge he
contemplates that body. That is why "development of the foundation (es-
tablishment) of mindfulness consisting in contemplation of the body as a
body" is said' (Ps.i, 184-86).
This, in the first place, is the consecutive word commentary here on
the first tetrad, which deals with contemplation of the body.
[Method of Development]
186. The first tetrad is set forth as a meditation subject for a beginner;
32
but the other three tetrads are [respectively] set forth as the contempla-
tions of feeling, of [the manner of] consciousness, and of mental objects,
for one who has already attained jhana in this tetrad. So if a clansman
who is a beginner wants to develop this meditation subject, and through
insight based on the fourth jhana produced in breathing, to reach Ara-
hantship together with the discriminations, he should first do all the
work connected with the purification of virtue, etc., in the way already
described, after which he should learn the meditation subject in five
stages from a teacher of the kind already described.
187. Here are the five stages: learning, questioning, establishing, absorp-
tion, characteristic.
Herein, learning is learning the meditation subject. Questioning is
questioning about the meditation subject. Establishing is establishing the
meditation subject. Absorption [278] is the absorption of the meditation
subject. Characteristic is the characteristic of the meditation subject;
what is meant is that it is the ascertaining of the meditation subject's
individual essence thus: 'This meditation subject has such a characteris-
tic'.
188. Learning the meditation subject in the five stages in this way, he
neither tires himself nor worries the teacher.
So in giving this meditation subject consisting in mindfulness of
breathing attention he can live either with the teacher or elsewhere in an
abode of the kind already described, learning the meditation subject in
the five stages thus, getting a little expounded at a time and taking a long
time over reciting it. He should sever the minor impediments. After fin-
ishing the work connected with the meal and getting rid of any dizziness
due to the meal, he should seat himself comfortably. Then, making sure
he is not confused about even a single word of what he has learned from
the teacher, he should cheer his mind by recollecting the special qualities
of the Three Jewels.
189. Here are the stages in giving attention to it: (1) counting, (2) con-
nexion, (3) touching, (4) fixing, (5) observing, (6) turning away, (7)
purification, and (8) looking back on these.
Herein, counting is just counting, connexion is carrying on, touching
is the place touched [by the breaths], fixing is absorption, observing is
insight, turning away is the path, purification is fruition, looking back on
these is reviewing.
190. 1. Herein, this clansman who is a beginner should first give atten-
tion to this meditation subject by counting. And when counting, he should
not stop short of five or go beyond ten or make any break in the series.
By stopping short of five his thoughts get excited in the cramped space,
like a herd of cattle shut in a cramped pen. By going beyond ten his
thoughts take the number [rather than the breaths] for their support. By
making a break in the series he wonders if the meditation subject has
reached completion or not. So he should do his counting without those
faults.
191. When counting, he should at first do it slowly [that is, late] as a
grain measurer does. For a grain measurer, having filled his measure,
says 'One', and empties it, and then refilling it, he goes on saying 'One,
one' while removing any rubbish he may have noticed. And the same
with 'Two, two', and so on. So, taking the in-breath or the out-breath,
whichever appears [most plainly], he should begin with 'One, one' [279]
and count up to 'Ten, ten', noting each as it occurs.
192. As he does his counting in this way, the in-breaths and out-breaths
become evident to him as they enter in and issue out. Then he can leave
off counting slowly (late), like a grain measurer, and he can count quickly
[that is, early] as a cowherd does. For a skilled cowherd takes pebbles in
his pocket and goes to the cow pen in the morning, whip in hand; sitting
on the bar of the gate, prodding the cows in the back, he counts each one
as it reaches the gate, saying 'One, two', dropping a pebble for each.
And the cows of the herd, which have been spending the three watches
of the night uncomfortably in the cramped space, come out quickly in
parties, jostling each other as they escape. So he counts quickly (early)
'Three, four, five' and so up to ten. In this way the in-breaths and out-
breaths, which had already become evident to him while he counted
them in the former way, now keep moving along quickly.
193. Then, knowing that they keep moving along quickly, not apprehend-
ing them either inside or outside [the body], but apprehending them just
as they reach the [nostril] door, he can do his counting quickly (early):
'One, two, three, four, five; one, two, three, four, five, six; ... seven; ...
eight;... nine;... ten'. For as long as the meditation subject is connected
with counting it is with the help of that very counting that the mind
becomes unified, just as a boat in a swift current is steadied with the help
of a rudder.
194. When he counts quickly, the meditation subject becomes apparent to
him as an uninterrupted process. Then, knowing that it is proceeding un-
interruptedly, he can count quickly (early) in the way just described, not
discerning the wind either inside or outside [the body]. For by bringing
his consciousness inside along with the incoming breath, it seems as if it
were buffeted by the wind inside or filled with fat.
53
By taking his
consciousness outside along with the outgoing breath, it gets distracted
by the multiplicity of objects outside. However, his development is
successful when he fixes his mindfulness on the place touched [by
the breaths]. That is why it was said above: 'He can count quickly
(early) in the way just described, not discerning the wind either inside or
outside'.
195. But how long is he to go on counting? Until, without counting,
[280] mindfulness remains settled on the in-breaths and out-breaths as its
object. For counting is simply a device for setting mindfulness on the
in-breaths and out-breaths as object by cutting off the external dissipa-
tion of applied thoughts.
196. 2. Having given attention to it in this way by counting, he should
now do so by connexion. Connexion is the uninterrupted following of the
in-breaths and out-breaths with mindfulness after counting has been given
up. And that is not by following after the beginning, middle and end.
54
197. The navel is the beginning of the wind issuing out, the heart is its
middle and the nose-tip is its end. The nose-tip is the beginning of the
wind entering in, the heart is its middle and the navel is its end. And if
he follows after that, his mind is distracted by disquiet and perturbation,
according as it is said: 'When he goes in with mindfulness after the
beginning, middle and end of the in-breath, his mind being distracted
internally, both his body and his mind are disquieted and perturbed and
shaky. When he goes out with mindfulness after the beginning, middle
and end of the out-breath, his mind being distracted externally, both his
body and his mind are disquieted and perturbed and shaky' (Ps.i,165).
3-4. So when he gives his attention to it by connexion, he should
do so not by the beginning, middle and end, but rather by touching and
by fixing.
198. There is no attention to be given to it by touching separate from
fixing as there is by counting separate from connexion. But when he is
counting the breaths in the place touched by each, he is giving attention
to them by counting and touching. When he has given up counting and is
connecting them by means of mindfulness in that same place and fixing
consciousness by means of absorption, then he is said to be giving his
attention to them by connexion, touching and fixing. And the meaning of
this may be understood through the similes of the man who cannot walk
and the gate-keeper given in the commentaries, and through the simile of
the saw given in the Patisambhida.
199. Here is the simile of the man who cannot walk: Just as a man unable
to walk, who is rocking a swing for the amusement of his children and
their mother, sits at the foot of the swing post and sees both ends and the
middle of the swing plank successively coming and going, [281] yet
does not move from his place in order to see both ends and the middle,
so too, when a bhikkhu places himself with mindfulness, as it were, at
the foot of the post for anchoring [mindfulness] and rocks the swing of
the in-breaths and out-breaths; he sits down with mindfulness on the sign
at that same place, and follows with mindfulness the beginning, middle
and end of the in-breaths and out-breaths at the place touched by them as
they come and go; keeping his mind fixed there, he then sees them
without moving from his place in order to see them. This is the simile of
the man who cannot walk.
200. This is the simile of the gate-keeper: Just as a gate-keeper does not
examine people inside and outside the town, asking 'Who are you? Where
have you come from? Where are you going? What have you got in your
hand?'—for those people are not his concern—but he does examine each
man as he arrives at the gate, so too, the inconling breaths that have gone
inside and the outgoing breaths that have gone outside are not this
bhikkhu's concern, but they are his concern each time they arrive at the
[nostril] gate itself.
201. Then the simile of the saw should be understood from its beginning.
For this is said:
4
Sign, in-breath, out-breath, are not object
Of a single consciousness;
By one who knows not these three things
Development is not obtained.
'Sign, in-breath, out-breath, are not object
Of a single consciousness;
By one who does know these three things
Development can be obtained.
202. 'How is it that these three things are not the object of a single con-
sciousness, that they are nevertheless not unknown, that the mind does
not become distracted, that he manifests effort, carries out a task, and
achieves an effect?
'Suppose there were a tree trunk placed on a level piece of ground,
and a man cut it with a saw. The man's mindfulness is established by the
saw's teeth where they touch the tree trunk, without his giving attention
to the saw's teeth as they approach and recede, though they are not
unknown to him as they do so; and he manifests effort, carries out a task,
and achieves an effect. As the tree trunk placed on the level piece of
ground, so the sign for the anchoring of mindfulness. As the saw's teeth,
so the in-breaths and out-breaths. As the man's mindfulness, established
by the saw's teeth where they touch the tree trunk, without his giving
attention to the saw's teeth as they approach and recede, though they are
not unknown to him as they do so, and so he manifests effort, carries out
a task, and achieves an effect, [282] so too, the bhikkhu sits, having es-
tablished mindfulness at the nose tip or on the upper lip, without giving
attention to the in-breaths and out-breaths as they approach and recede,
though they are not unknown to him as they do so, and he manifests
effort, carries out a task, and achieves an effect.
203. ' "Effort": what is the effort? The body and the mind of one who is
energetic become wieldy—this is the effort. What is the task? Imperfec-
tions come to be abandoned in one who is energetic, and his applied
thoughts are stilled—this is the task. What is the effect? Fetters come to
be abandoned in one who is energetic, and his inherent tendencies come
to be done away with—this is the effect.
'So these three things are not the object of a single consciousness,
and they are nevertheless not unknown, and the mind does not become
distracted, and he manifests effort, carries out a task, and achieves an
effect.
'Whose mindfulness of breathing in
And out is perfect, well developed,
And gradually brought to growth
According as the Buddha taught,
Tis he illuminates the world
Just like the full moon free from cloud' (Ps.i, 170-72; last
line Dh. 172: whole verse Thag. 548).
This is the simile of the saw. But here it is precisely his not giving
attention [to the breaths] as [yet to] come and [already] gone
55
that
should be understood as the purpose.
204. When someone gives his attention to this meditation subject, some-
times it is not long before the sign arises in him, and then the fixing, in
other words, absorption adorned with the rest of the jhana factors, is
achieved.
205. After someone has given his attention to counting, then just as when
a body that is disturbed sits down on a bed or chair, the bed or chair sags
down and creaks and the cover gets rumpled, but when a body that is not
disturbed sits down, the bed or chair neither sags down nor creaks, the
cover does not get rumpled, and it is as though filled with cotton-wool—
why? because a body that is not disturbed is light—so too, after he has
given his attention to counting, when the bodily disturbance has been
stilled by the gradual cessation of gross in-breaths and out-breaths, then
both the body and the mind become light: the physical body is as though
it were ready to leap up into the air. [283]
206. When his gross in-breaths and out breaths have ceased, his con-
sciousness occurs with the sign of the subtle in-breaths and out-breaths
as its object. And when that has ceased, it goes on occurring with the
successively subtler signs as its object. How?
207. Suppose a man stuck a bronze bell with a big iron bar and at once a
loud sound arose, his consciousness would occur with the gross sound as
its object; then, when the gross sound had ceased, it would occur after-
wards with the sign of the subtle sound as its object; and when that had
ceased, it would go on occurring with the sign of the successively subtler
sounds as its object. This is how it should be understood. And this is
given in detail in the passage beginning 'Just as when a metal gong is
struck' (§184).
208. For while other meditation subjects become clearer at each higher
stage, this one does not: in fact, as he goes on developing it, it becomes
more subtle for him at each higher stage, and it even comes to the point
at which it is no longer manifest.
However, when it becomes unmanifest in this way, the bhikkhu
should not get up from his seat, shake out his leather mat, and go away.
What should be done? He should not get up with the idea 'Shall I ask
the teacher?' or 'Is my meditation subject lost?'; for by going away, and
so disturbing his posture, the meditation subject has to be started anew.
So he should go on sitting as he was and [temporarily] substitute the
place [normally touched for the actual breaths as the object of contem-
plation].
56
209. These are the means for doing it. The bhikkhu should recognize the
unmanifest state of the meditation subject and consider thus: 'Where do
these in-breaths and out-breaths exist? Where do they not? In whom do
they exist? In whom not?'. Then, as he considers thus, he finds that they
do not exist in one inside the mother's womb, or in those drowned in
water, or likewise in unconscious beings,
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or in the dead, or in those
attained to the fourth jhana, or in those born into a fine-material or
immaterial existence, or in those attained to cessation [of perception and
feeling]. So he should apostrophize himself thus: 'You with all your
wisdom are certainly not inside a mother's womb or drowned in water or
in the unconscious existence or dead or attained to the fourth jhana or
born into the fine-material or immaterial existence or attained to cessa-
tion. Those in-breaths and out-breaths are actually existent in you, only
you are not able to discern them because your understanding is dull'.
Then, fixing his mind on the place normally touched [by the breaths], he
should proceed to give his attention to that.
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