Dhamma-Sangani - THE GENESIS OF THOUGHTS - Good in relation to the Universe of Form

A BUDDHIST MANUAL
Psychological Ethics,
FROM THE PALI
OF THE
DHAMMA-SANGANI

Translated by CAROLINE A. F. RHYS DAVIDS, M.A.

Chaptee II
[Good in relation to the Universe of Form (rupa-
vacara-kusalam).
Methods for inducing Jhana,
I.
The Eight Artifices (atthakasinam).
1. The Earth Artifice (pathavikasinam).
(a) The Fourfold System of Jhana (catukkanayo).]
[160] Which are the states that are good ?
When, that he may attain to the heavens of Form,^ he^
cultivates the way thereto, aloof from sensuous appetites,
aloof from evil ideas,^ and so, by earth-gazing, enters* into
^ See Introduction.
^ The subject of these states of consciousness.
^ Vivicc' eva kamehi, vivicca akusalehi dham-
mehi. Lit., *
having separated one's self, having become
without, having departed from' (Asl. 164). That is to say
—again according to the Cy. {ibid.)—from the objects of
sensual desires, and from the desires themselves, respec-
tively (vatthukama, kilesakama. Childers' Dictionary,
s.v. kamo). The former phrase (vivicc' eva kamehi)
includes the whole psychological realm of sense-presentation
(kayo, or the three skandhas of feeling, perception and
sanskaras) ; the latter, dhammehi, referring to the realm
of ideation (cittam) only.
The Cy. repudiates the idea that the emphatic enclitic
eva, occurring only in the former of the two phrases,
renders the latter less important, and quotes, in support,
the opening words of the Cula-sihanada Discourse (M. i. 63).
* Pathavikasinam. The first of the Karmasthana


and abides in^ the First Jhana (the first rapt meditation),
wherein conception works and thought discursive,^ which is
born of solitude,^ and full of joy* and ease—then the
contact, the feeling . . . the grasp, the balance, which
arise in him, or whatever other^ incorporeal, causally
induced states that there are on that occasion—these are
states that are good.
methods, or quasi-hypnotic devices for attaining to temporary
rapt oblivion of the outer world. The percept of the circle
of mould induces the vivid image (nimittam), and there-
upon Jhana supervenes.
^ I.e., sustains the mood indefinitely. The Cy. quotes
the Vibhanga as paraphrasing the term by the same
expressions, 'going on,' etc., as are used to describe above
(§ 19) the '
faculty of vitality.'
- Savitakkam savicaram. Leaving the negative
essential conditions of Jhana, we pass to the positive
features (Asl. 166). The meditation progresses by means
of these two in particular, as a tree does by its flowers and
fruit. According to the Vibhanga, they reveal the deter-
mined resolves of the individual student (puggaladhit-
thana). (Ihid.)
^ According to the Cy., the solitude is rather moral than
physical, and means *
born in the seclusion which the
student creates by thrusting from his heart the five
hindrances {ibid.,- infra, § 1152). According as it is said in
the Petaka (? Petakopadesa), concentration opposes sensual
desire ; joy opposes malice ; conception, or the onset of
intellect, opposes stolidity and torpor ; ease opposes excite-
ment and worry ; discursive thought opposes perplexity or
doubt (Asl. 165). See I), i. 73, where the hindrances are
explicitly mentioned in connection with Jhana ; also the
notes in Khys Davids' ' Dialogues of the Buddha,' I., p. 84.
* I.e., joy of the fifth species, pharana-piti (Asl. 166),
§ 9; also compare the passage just referred to, D. i. 73.
Seeabove, so imam eva kayam . . . abhisandeti . . .
parip-pharati.
^ These are said to be the four first—desire, etc.—of the
nine named above, p. 5, n. 1 (Asl. 168).


Continue as in the First Type of Thought relating to the
sensuous univei'se, including the Summary and '
Emptiness '
divisions.^
[161] Which are the states that are good ?
When, that he may attain to the heavens of Form, he
cultivates the way thereto, suppressing the working of
conception and of thought discursive, and so, by earth-
gazing, enters into and abides in the Second Jhana (the
second rapt meditation), which is self-evolved,^ born of con-
centration, full of joy and ease, in that, set free from the
working of conception and of thought discursive, the mind
^ So the Cy. (ibid.). In the text, therefore, the reader
should have been referred, not to (147), but to (1). K.
indicates the elision simply by a ... pe ... at the
point corresponding to the comma before '
or whatever . .
.'
in my translation, followed by 'ime dhamma kusala.'
1 am inclined, however, to think that the detailed
catechism as to the nature of the various dhammas, such
as occurs at §§ 2-57, is not to be understood as included in
the passage elided, either here or in the remaining Jhanas.
K. does not repeat the . . . pe . . . cited above at the
corresponding point in the three remaining Jhanas, where
the Summary is not elided, but given. Nor does it give
the . . . pe . . . which stands in the text, in §§ 163,
165, before Tasmim kho pana samaye. Similarly it
omits the . . . pe . . . given in the text at the corre-
sponding points in the formulae for the 'five-fold Jhana,'
§ 168 et seq.
2 Ajjhattam, i.e., according to the Cy. (169), attano
jatam, attasantane nibbattarn; according to the
Vibhanga, paccattam. It is not quite clear to me what
is the special force of the term in just this Jhana, unless it
be that the '
earth-gazing ' is not now continued—the
individual becoming more rapt from external determinants
of consciousness, more susceptible to purely subjective
conditions.


grows calm and sure/ dwelling on high"^—then the contact,
the feeling, the perception, the thinking, the thought, the
joy, the ease, the self-collectedness, the faculties of faith,
energy, mindfulness, concentration, wisdom, ideation, happi-
ness, and vitality, the right views,^ right endeavour, . . .*
the grasp, the balance that arises—these, or whatever other
incorporeal, causally induced states that there are on that
occasion—these are states that are good.
^ Sampasadanam, tranquillizing, paraphrased in the
Cy. (ibid.) by saddha, assurance or faith (above, § 12).
It is a term for Jhana itself, blent as it is with the whole
contemplative discipline, 'just as cloth steeped in purple
is "purple"'—to adapt the commentator's simile to our
idiom. The following word cetaso, 'of the mind,' may be
taken either with this term, or with that next after it,
ekodibhavam (ibicL).
2 In the text read ekodibhavam. Buddhaghosa's
comments on this expression contain the original of the
Thera Subhuti's quotation given in Childers. The substance
of them is that the ceto (intellect, mind, heart), no longer
overwhelmed or encumbered by vitakko and vicaro, rises
up slowly pre-eminent (eko = settho or asahayo) in its
meditative concentration, or samadhi, this term being
synonymous with ekodibhavam (Samadhiss' etam
adhivacanam). The discursive intellection of the First
Jhana, troubling the ceto, as waves rendering water turgid,
has in the Second Jhana sunk to rest. And this uplifting
is said (the commentator emphasizes) of ceto, and not of
an individual entity, nor of a living soul (na sattassa
na jivassa). See Morris's note, J. P. T. S., 1885, p. 32.
^ Sammasankappo is here, its usual order of place,
omitted. It involves vitakko; see § 7.
* The reference in the text to § 157 cannot be right.
The subject has not yet banished pleasurable emotion, and
attained to the calm of disinterestedness ; nor is his state
of mind *
disconnected with knowledge.' The type of
thought, as to its remaining components, is still the first,
i.e., that of § 1.


[Summary.]
[161a] Now, on that occasion
the skandhas are four,
the spheres are two,
the elements are two,
the nutriments are three,
the faculties are eight,
the Jhana is threefold,^
the Path is fourfold,^
the powers are seven,
the causes are three,
contact counts as a single factor,
etc., etc.
[Continue as in § 58 et seq.^
•X- »«• -x- -x- -x- *
[162] What on that occasion is the skandha of syntheses?
Contact, joy,
thinking, self-collectedness ;
the faculties of
faith, concentration,
energy, wisdom,
mindfulness, vitality ;
right views,
right endeavour,
etc., etc.
[Continue as in § 62 et seq.^ ]
^ (7/. § 83. *
Conception ' and *
discursive thought ' are
now suppressed.
2 (7/1 § 89. * Eight intention,' as involving *
conception,'
is now suppressed. The mind is no longer occupied with
overt activities concerned with this life. See p. 46, n. 3.
^ Including, presumably, the '
Emptiness ' Section, as in
the case of the First Jhana.


[163] Which are the states that are good ?
When, that he may attain to the heavens of Form, he
cultivates the way thereto, and further, through the waning
of all passion for joy,^ holds himself unbiassed,^ the while,
mindful and self-possessed,^ he experiences in his sense-con-
sciousness* that ease whereof the Noble Ones^ declare :
'
He
that is unbiassed and watchful dwelleth at ease '
—and so,
by earth-gazing, enters into and abides in the Third Jhana
—then the contact, the feeling, the perception, the thinking,
the thought, the ease, the self-collectedness, the faculties of
faith, energy, mindfulness,^ concentration, wisdom, ideation,
happiness and vitality, the right views, right endea-
vour,^ etc. . . . the grasp, the balance that arises^—these,
or whatever other incorporeal, causally induced states
that there are on that occasion—these are states that are
good.
^ Pitiya ca viraga, 'meaning either distaste for joy
or the transcending of it.' The ca indicates the progressive
continuity from the preceding to the present Jhana (Asl. 171).
^ Upekkhako, or disinterested. He looks on from the
standpoint of one who has arrived, says the Cy. (172). As
we might say
:
*E terra magnum alterius spectare laborem.'
Buddhaghosa expatiates here on the ten kinds of upek-
kha enumerated in Hardy, 'Man. Buddhism,' 505.
^ Sampajano. Intelligently aware of his own pro-
cedure.
* Kayo, see Introduction ; supra, p. 43, n. 3.
5 See infra, § 1003, n. 6.
^ Omitted in the text, but not so in K. The context
requires its insertion.
^ Sammasati, inserted in the text, but not in the right
order, is of course required by the context, but is, here and
in K., assumed in the *
etc'
s
§ 157, to which the reader is referred in the text, is
obviously wrong. § 1 would be nearer the mark.


[Summary.]
[1636i] Now, on that occasion
the skandhas are four,
the spheres are two,
the elements are two,
the nutriments are three,
the faculties are eight,
the Jhana is twofold,^
the Path is fourfold,-
the powers are seven,
the causes are three,
contact counts as a single factor,
etc., etc.
[Continue as in § 58.]
[164] What on that occasion is the skandha of syn-
theses ?
Contact,
thinking,
self-collectedness
;
the faculties of
faith, concentration,
energy, wisdom,
mindfulness, vitality
;
right views, right endeavour,
etc., etc.
[Continue as in § 62.]
^ '
Ease ' remains and '
self-collectedness.'
2 Cf. § 16P n. 2.


[165] Which are the states that are good ?
When, that he may attain to the heavens of Form, he
cultivates the way thereto, and, by the putting away of
ease and by the putting away of ill, by the passing away
of the happiness and of the misery^ he was wont to feel, he
thus, by earth-gazing, enters into and abides in the Fourth
Jhana (the fourth rapt meditation) of that utter purity
of mindfulness which comes of disinterestedness,^ where
no ease is felt nor any ill—then the contact, the feeling,
the perception, the thinking, the thought, the disinterested-
ness, the self-collectedness, the faculties of faith, energy,
mindfulness, concentration, wisdom, ideation, disinterested-
^ *Ease' and *ill,' according to the Cy., are kayikam,
or relating to the three skandhas of feeling, etc.—relating
to sense-consciousness. ' Happiness ' and ' misery ' (soman-
assarn, domanassam) relate to the intellect, or ideational
consciousness. '
Happiness '
is the last of these to be trans-
cended ; the others have been expelled in the course of the
previous stages of Jhana (Asl. 175, 176). But all four are
here enumerated, as if all were only in this Fourth Jhana
transcended, in order to show more clearly, by the method
of exhaustive elimination, what is the subtle and elusive
nature of that third species of feeling termed '
neutral
'
(adukkham-asukha), or *
disinterested '
(upekkha)
—
the zero point, or line, as we should say, of hedonic
quantity. The Cy. then gives the simile of selecting heads
of cattle by elimination of the rest of the herd, which
Hardy cites {ibid., 177; East. Monachism, 270).
^ Upekkha-satiparisuddhim. According to the
Vibhanga, the mindfulness that is made pure stands for
all the other elements present in consciousness, which have
also been brought into clear relief, as it were, by the calm
medium of equanimity. The simile is then adduced, given
also in Hardy (op. cit, 271), of the moon by day and by
night. Upekkha is latent in consciousness in the other
stages of Jhana, but rendered colourless by the radiance
of intellectual and emotional exercise, as the crescent moon
during the day, though present in the sky, is dimmed by
the sun's splendour (Asl. 178).


ness and vitality, the right views, the right endeavour,
etc. . . .
[Contmue as in § 163.]
* * * *
[Summary.]
[165a] Now, on that occasion
the skandhas are four,
the spheres are two,
the elements are two,
the nutriments are three,
the faculties are eight,
the Jhana is twofold,^
the Path is fourfold,
the powers are seven,
the causes are three,
contact counts as a single factor,
etc., etc.
[Continue as in § 58, etc.]
[166] What on that occasion is the skandha of syn-
theses ?
Answer as in § 164.'^
[Here ends] the Fourfold System of Jhana.
^ Namely, *
disinterestedness '
and *
self-collectedness
'
(Asl. 179). Else one would have looked to find ekangi-
kam Jhanam.
2 The printed text omits satindriyam, though it is
explicitly required by the context. K. gives it.


(b) The Fivefold System of Jhana (pancakanayo) .]^
[167] The First Jhana. Question and answer as in the
fourfold course, § 160.
[168] Which are the states that are good ?
When, that he may attain to the heavens of Form, he
cultivates the way thereto, and so, by earth-gazing, enters
into and abides in the Second Jhana (the second rapt medi-
tation) wherein is no working of conception, but only of
thought discursive—which is born of concentration, and is
full of joy and ease—then the contact, the feeling, the per-
ception, the thinking, the thought, the discursive inquiry,
the joy, the ease, the self-collectedness, etc. . . .
[Continue as for the Second Jhana in § 161.]
[Summary.]
[168a] Now, on that occasion
the skandhas are four,
the spheres are two,
the elements are two,
the nutriments are three,
the faculties are eight,
^ Jhana is usually alluded to in the Pitakas in the four-
fold order. The fivefold division is obtained by the suc-
cessive, instead of simultaneous, elimination of vitakko
and vicaro. According to the Cy., it was optional to the
teacher, after the example of the Buddha, to use either at
his discretion, adapting himself to the particular mental
state of his pupils, or having a view to the effectve flow
of his discourse. A passage is quoted from the Pitakas
—
probably S. iv. 363 or A. i. 299, n. 2 {cf K V. 413 ; Mil. 337)
—where samadhi is distinguished as (1) having vitakko
and vicaro, (2) having only the latter, (3) having neither.


the Jhana is fourfold,
the Path is fourfold,
etc., etc.
[Continue as in § 58.]
[169] What on that occasion is the skandha of syn-
theses ?
Contact, thinking, discursive thought, joy, etc. . . .
[Contimie as in § 162.]
[170-175] The Third, Fourth and Fifth Jhanas.
[These are identical in formulation with the Second, Third
and Fourth Jhanas of the Fourfold System, Questions and
answers as in §§ 161-166.]
[Here ends] the Fivefold System of Jhana.
[(c) The Four Modes of Progress (catasso pati-
pada).]^
^ It has been seen that, before the several stages of
Jhana could be attained to, the student had to purge and
discipline himself in specific ways—elimination of all
attention to mundane matters, elimination of discursive
cogitation, and so on. The special stage of Jhana super-
vened after each act of self-control and intensified ab-
straction. In these processes there was an earlier and a
subsequent stage called—at least in the later books
—
upacara and appana respectively. The effective cogni-
tion linking these two was an exercise of paiina which,
in the text, is known as abhifina (* intuition '), probably
the intuitive or subconscious fetch of the mind to compass
the desired appana, or conception. Now, whether the
preparatory abstraction was easy or difficult, and whether
the constructive generalizing effort was sluggish or vigorous,
depended on the moral temperament and the mental ability


[176] Which are the states that are good ?
When, that he may attain to the heavens of Form, he
cultivates the way thereto, aloof from sensuous appetites,
aloof from evil ideas, and so, by earth-gazing, enters into
and abides in the First Jhana . . . progress being painful
and intuition sluggish—then the contact^ . . . the balance
that arises—these . . . are states that are good.
[177P . . . [or] when ... he ... so enters into and
abides in the First Jhana . . . progress being painful, but
intuition quick . . .
[178] . . . [or] when ... he ... so enters into and
abides in the First Jhana . . . progress being easy, but
intuition sluggish . . .
[179] . . . [or] when ... he ... so enters into and
abides in the First Jhana . . . progress being easy and
intuition quick—then the contact, etc. . . . the balance
that arises—these . . . are states that are good.
respectively of the individual student (Asl. 182-184). See
the double explanation in A. ii. 149-152, where the swift-
ness or sluggishness of intuition in both accounts depends
on the acuteness or flabbiness of the five faculties of faith,
energy, mindfulness, concentration, wisdom. The ease or
difficulty in self-abstraction depends, in the first explana-
tion, on whether the student is by nature passionate,
malignant, dull, or the reverse of these three. In the
second account progress is painful if he have filled his
consciousness with the disciplinary concepts of the Foul
Things {vide below, § 263), Disgust with the World, Im-
permanence and Death ; easy if he simply work out the
Four Jhanas.
On the varying import of abhinna (which occurs in
no other connexion in the present work), see 'Dialogues
of the Buddha,' i. 62. On upacara and appana, see
'
Yogavacara's Manual,' p. xi. We shall probably learn more
about the whole procedure when the Visuddhi Magga and
the Vibhanga are edited.
' Cf. § 1.
^ The same question is to be understood as repeated in
each section.


[180] These four combinations are repeated in the case of
the ''Itul to the 4th Jhanas on the Fourfold System, and of the
2nd to the 5th on the Fivefold System.
[Here end] the Four Modes of Progress.
[{d) The Four Objects of Thought (cattari aram-
man ani).]^
[181] Which are the states that are good ?
When, that he may attain to the heavens of Form, he
cultivates the way thereto, and so, aloof from sensuous
appetites, aloof from evil ideas, by earth-gazing, enters into
and abides in the First Jhana (the first rapt meditation),
wherein conception works and thought discursive, which
is born of solitude, and is full of joy and ease, but which
is limited, and has a limited object of thought—then the
contact^ . . . the balance that arises—these . . . are states
that are good.
[182] . . . [or] when . . . the First Jhana^ ... is
limited, but has an object of thought capable of infinite
extension . . .
[183] . . . [o?^] when . . . the First Jhana ... is
capable of infinite extension, but has a limited object of
thought . . .
[184] . . . [or] when . . . the First Jhana ... is
capable of infinite extension, and has an object of thought
capable of infinite extension—then the contact, etc. . . .
the balance that arises, these . . . are states that are good.
^ That is to say, the percepts or concepts on which the
student, in seeking to induce Jhana, fixes his attention are
here classified as having the potentiality to induce a weak
or a lofty mood of rapt contemplation. Buddhaghosa
describes the former kind of object as having the shallow-
ness of a mere basket or dish (Asl. 184). See also below,
§§ 1019-1024.
' Cf § 1.
^ In the following condensed passages the question and
answer in the text respectively coincides with and com-
mences like the precedent given in § 181.


[185] These four combinations are repeated in the case of
the 2nd to the 4:th Jhdnas on the Fourfold System, and of the
1st to the 5th^ Jhanas on the Fivefold System.
[Here end] the Four Objects of Thought.
[(e) ( = c and d) The Sixteenfold Combination (s o 1 a s a k-
khattukam).]
[186] Which are the states that are good ?
When, that he may attain to the heavens of Form, he
cultivates the way thereto, aloof from sensuous appetites,
aloof from evil ideas, and so, by earth-gazing, enters into
and abides in the first Jhana . . .
where progress is pain-
ful and intuition sluggish,
[190] . . . [or] where pro-
gress is painful, but intuition
is quick.
which is limited, and has a
limited object of thought . . .
[187] . . . [or] which is
limited, but has an object
of thought capable of in-
finite extension . . .
[188] . . . [or] which is
capable of infinite extension,
but has a limited object of
thought ...
[189] . . . [or] which is
capable of infinite extension,
and has an object of thought
capable of infinite extension
which is limited, and has a
limited object of thought . . .
[191] . . . [or] . . . etc.
[Continue for §§ 191-193
as in §§ 187-189.]
^ In the text, § 185, after pathamam jhilnam read
. . . pe . . . pan cam am jhanam. So K. Cf. § 180.
Again, after avikkhepo hoti supply . . . pe . . .


[194] . . . [o7'] where pro-
gress is easy, but intuition
sluggish,
[198] . . . [or] where pro-
gress is easy and intuition
quick,
which is limited,^ and has
a limited object of thought
[195] . . . [or] . . . etc.
[Continue for §§ 195-197
as above.]
which is limited, and has a
limited object of thought . . .
[199] [Continuefor ^ 199-
\ 201 as above,]
[202] [These sixteen combinations are repeated in the case
of the 2nd to the 4:th Jhanas on the Fourfold System, and of
the 1st to the 5th Jhanas on the Fivefold System,]
[Here ends] the Sixteenfold Combination.
[2. The Kemaining Seven Artifices luhich may also be
developed in sixteenfold combination (atthakasinam
solasakkhattukam).]2
^ In the text supply parittam before parittaram-
m a n a m.
'^
The first artifice for the induction of Jhana having
been that of earth-gazing (see above, passim). In the
Sutta Pitaka—viz., in the Maha Sakuludayi-Sutta (M. ii.,
p. 14), and in the Jhana Yagga (A. i. 41)—ten kasinas are
enumerated, those omitted in the Dhammasangani being
the kasinas of intellection (v inn an a) and space (akasa).
The fact of the omission and the nature of the two omitted
kasinas are commented on by Buddhaghosa (Asl. 186).
He explains the omission of the former by its being
identical with the second of the four Aruppajhanani
given in §§ 265-268, and that of the latter through its
ambiguity. For either it amounts to the '
yellow ' kasina
(sun-lit space), or it amounts to the first Aruppajhana
(§ 265). The Ceylon tradition has ten kasinas also, but
admits aloka (light) instead of vinnana. And it includes
yet another quasi-kasina in the shape of a bhuta-kasina,
or the four elements taken collectively, after each has been


[203] Which are the states that are good ?
When, that he may attain to the heavens of Form, he
cultivates the way thereto, aloof from sensuous appetites,
aloof from evil ideas, and so, by the artifice of
water . . .
fire . . .
air . . .
blue-black . . .
yellow ...
red ...
white . . .
enters into and abides in the First Jhana . . . then the
contact, etc., that arises—these . . . are states that are
good.
[Here ends] the Sixteenfold Combination in the case of
the seven remaining artifices for induction.