A BUDDHIST MANUAL
Psychological Ethics,
FROM THE PALI
OF THE
DHAMMA-SANGANI
Translated by CAROLINE A. F. RHYS DAVIDS, M.A.
[11.
The Stations of Mastery^ (abhibhayatanani).
1. *
Forms as Limited '(rupani parittani).
{a and h) Fourfold and Fivefold Jhana.]
[204] Which are the states that are good ?
When, that he may attain to the heavens of Form, he
separately dwelt upon. See '
Yogavacara's Manual, 1896,'
pp. 48-52.
^ Eight '
stations ' or '
positions of mastery ' are given
in the Maha-parinibbana-Sutta (pp. 28, 29; see S. B. E.
xi. 49, 50, and in A. iv. 305), but the formulae of the first
four differ slightly from those in our text. The Cy. draws
attention to this discrepancy (Asl. 189). In the Suttanta
the esthetic aspect of the objects perceived is taken into
account in all four stations, the specific difference replacing
it in two of them being the conscious dwelling on some
part of one's own bodily frame orriipaskandha. In the
Dhammasangani this consciousness is excluded from all the
stations. To teach by way of its inclusion and exclusion
is called * merely a jeii d'esprit in the Master's discourse '
(desana-vilasa-mattam eva). See following note.
cultivates the way thereto, and, unconscious of any part
of his corporeal self,^ but seeing external objects to be
limited, gets the mastery over them with the thought 'I
know, I see !'^ and so, aloof from sensuous appetites, aloof
from evil ideas, enters into and abides in the First Jhana,
etc. . . . then the contact, etc., that arises—these . . . are
states that are good.
[205] [Repeat in the case of the 2nd to the 4ih Jhana on
the Fourfold System^ and of the 2nd to the 5th Jhana on the
Fivefold System,^
[(c) The Four Modes of Progress.]
[206-210] Repeat the four combinations of progress as
painful or easy, and of intuition as sluggish or quick set
out in §§ 176-180, substituting for '
earth - gazing ' the
Masteryformula just stated.
^Ajjhattam arupasaniii ( = na rupasafini). This
rendering is in accordance with Buddhaghosa's comments
(Asl. 188, 189, 191). The student, either because he has
tried and failed, or because he did not wish to try, has not
induced Jhana by way of fixing attention on his own hair
or the rest. Cf. the Maha Eahulovada-Sutta (M. i. 62),
where the individual's rupa-skandha is fully set forth with
reference to the four elements, ajjhattika pathavid-
hatu, etc., beginning with '
hair '
and the rest. Cj. § 248 n.
^ The external objects in question are contemplated on
the kasina system (Asl. 188). And just as a man of
vigorous digestion bolts a spoonful of rice, so the aspirant
after sublime truth swiftly and easily transcends the initial
act of external perception when the object is insignificant,
and brings forth the desiderated concept (appana). The
judgments by which he registers the consciousness of in-
tellectual mastery have reference, according to Buddhaghosa,
to past experience of enlightenment, and indicate simply
a recognition, or, in terms of syllogism, a minor premise
identified. But he states that, in the Sinhalese commentary
on the Nikayas, they are interpreted as implying a present
access of new light, a fresh moral attainment, gained after
the thinker transcends perceptual consciousness {ibid.).
[(d) The Two Objects of Thought.]
[211-213] Repeat, substituting for '
earth - gazing '
the
Mastery-formulaf § 181, where the Jhana *
is limited, and
has a Hmited object of thought,' and § 183, where the Jhana
*
is capable of infinite extension, but has a limited object of
thought.'!
[(e = c and d) The Eightfold Combination (atthak-
khattuka m.]'^
[214-221] Repeat, with the same substitution, §§ 186, 188,
190, 192, 194, 196, 198, and 200 of the Sixteenfold Com-
bination.
[222] Repeat these eight combinations in the case of each
of the remaining Jhclnas.
[2. *
Forms as limited and as beautiful or ugly'^
(rupani parittani suvann a-d ubbannani).
! The '
objects of thought' are here the kasinas, essentially
discerned to be '
limited '
or insignificant. Hence two, not
four varieties ; and hence eight, not sixteen combinations.
The term appamanain connoting merely a relative, not
an absolute infinitude, there is only a difference of degree
in the depth, purifying efficacy, or what not, of the Jhana
attained to. The same illustrative figure is accordingly
used, varied in degree. The gourmand, discontented with
a small dish of rice, demands more and more. So the
aspirant (now iianuttaro, not nanuttariko), aiming
at perfect self-concentration, refuses to call that infinite
which seems so (ibid.).
2 So K.
^ The general aesthetic designations of suvann arn and
dubbanam are in the Cy. paraphrased by parisuddhaiii
and its negative. Just as the limited nature of visible
things was held to be an efficacious consideration for con-
ceptual efforts, and the notion of 'infinite' helpful for
dulness, so the beautiful and the ugly were prescribed for
inimical conduct and for indulgence in passion respectively.
The appropriateness of it all is said to be discussed in the
Cariya-niddesa of the Visuddhi Magga (Asl. 189).
(a) and (h)]
[223] Which are the states that are good ?
When, that he may attain to the heavens of Form, he
cultivates the way thereto, and, unconscious of any part
of his corporeal self, but seeing external objects to be
limited, and to be beautiful or ugly, gets the mastery over
them with the thought, *I know, I see!' and so, aloof
from sensuous appetites, aloof from evil ideas, enters into
and abides in the First Jhana, etc. . . . then the contact,
etc., that arises—these . . . are states that are good.
[224] Repeat in the case of each of the remaining Jhanas,
Develop in eightfold combination.
[3. '
Forms as infinite '( rupaniappamanani).^
{a) and (/>)]
[225] Which are the states that are good ?
When, that he may attain to the heavens of Form, he
cultivates the way thereto, and, unconscious of any part
of his corporeal self, but seeing external objects to be
infinite, gets the mastery over them with the thoughts
*I know, I see!' and so, aloof from sensuous appetites,
etc.
[Continue as in § 204.]
[226] Repeat in the case of each of the remaining Jhanas.
[(c) The Four Modes of Progress.]
[227-231] Repeat §§ 206-210, substituting *
infinite '/or
' limited.'
1 See note on §§ 211-213. Taken in order, Buddha-
ghosa's comment there reproduced applies to that part of
the text. According to the context, it might better apply
here, where the external forms or kasina-objects are now
contemplated as *
infinite.' The reflection, however, appHes
to either passage.
[(d) The Two Objects of Thought.]
[232-234] Repeat, with the same substitution as in (c),
§§ 211-213.
[(e = ca.ndd) The Eightfold Combination.]
[235-242] Develop, icith the same substitution as in (c) and
(d), after the manner o/ §§ 187, 189, and so on to § 201.
[243] Repeat these eight combinations in the case of each of
the remaining Jhdnas.
[4. ' Forms as infinite and as beautiful or ugly '
(rupani
appamanani suvanna-dubbannani).
(a) and (b)]
[244] Repeat § 223, substituting * infinite ' /o^' * limited.'
[245] Repeat in the case of each of the remaining Jhanas.
Develop in eightfold combination.
[5. *
Forms as blue-black,' etc. (rupaninilani).^
^ It is well known that it is as difiicult to determine
the range of colour indicated by nil am as to decide the
colour-value of the word ryXavKo^;, Like the latter term,
nilam may originally have referred more to lustre than
to tinge, meaning darkly lustrous, jetty, or nigrescent.
Any way, it is not plausible to render the term by *
blue
'
when one is referred to human hair or bile (pit tarn) as
instances of it in the human body. See note 2 to § 248.
In Jat. iii. 138 hair-dye or hair-wash is called niliyam
—
much, perhaps, as we speak of *
blacking ' or '
russet polish '
for shoes. This implies that the colour called nil am
was, if not the usual, at least the desiderated colour of
human hair.
If it were what we understand by a typical blue, the
term would be applied to sky and sea, or the violet band
of the rainbow, which is, I believe, never the case. Pos-
sibly our own colour -parallels in these respects are a
modern development. Cf. Havelock Ellis in Contemporary
Revieiv, vol. Ixix., p. 727. Modern Hindu colour-terms are,
I am told, largely of Persian origin.
(«)]
[246] Which are the states that are good ?
When, that he may attain to the heavens of Form, he
cultivates the way thereto, and, unconscious of any part
of his corporeal self, but seeing external objects which
are blue-black, blue-black in colour, blue-black in visible
expanse,^ blue-black in luminousness, gets the mastery over
them with the thought, *I know, I see !'
and so, aloof from
sensuous appetites, etc.
[Continue as in § 204.]
* -^ -x- * -K-
[6-8. 'Forms as yellow,' etc. (rupani pitani).
[247] Repeat § 246, substituting for *
blue-black, blue-black
in colour,' etc., * yellow,' '
red,' and '
white '^ successively.
Develop these Stations of Mastery in the Sixteenfold
Combination.
[TIL
The Three First Deliverances (tini vimokkhani.^]
1.
[248] When, that he may attain to the heavens of Form,
he cultivates the way thereto, and, conscious of his bodily
^ Nilanidassanam, indicating, according to the Cy.
(190), a uniform sheet of blue without break. The colours
in this and following sections may reside in a flower, a
piece of cloth, or some other basis.
^ The remaining three English colour-names may match
the Pali terms as loosely as in the previous case. Cf.
S. B. E. xi., loc, cit. In the Sutta there translated in-
stances of the colours are given, and, curiously enough,
'
white ' is illustrated, not by milk, or the distant Himalaya
snows, but by the morning star.
^ Followed by four more of the Eight Deliverances in
the next chapter, §§ 265-268. The eighth alone is not
given in the present work. See Maha Parinibbana Sutta,
p. 30 ; A. iv. 306. According to the Cy. (190), the term
'
deliverance '
(vimokkham, or adhimuccanam) is used
form,^ sees bodily forms, and so, aloof from sensuous
appetites, aloof from evil ideas, enters into and abides in
the First Jhana, etc. . . . then the contact, etc., which
arises, these . . . are states that are good.
2.
[249] When, that he may attain to the heavens of Form,
he cultivates the way thereto, and, unconscious of his cor-
poreal self, sees external bodily forms, and so, aloof from
sensuous appetites, etc.
[Continue as in preceding section.]
3.
[250] When, that he may attain to the heavens of Form,
he cultivates the way thereto, and, with the thought,
* How fair it is !'^ aloof from sensuous appetites, etc.
to denote the being set free from '
adverse conditions ' and
their seductive fascinations, so that the attention is sus-
tained with all the detachment and confidence that the
child feels who is borne on his father's hip, his little limbs
dangling, their clutch unneeded.
^ Rupi. Judging by the Cy. (190), this is equivalent
to ajjhattam rupasaiiiii—that is, to the opposite of the
term *
unconscious of any part of his corporeal self,' the
attitude prescribed in the Stations of Mastery, supra,
§ 204 et seq. The parikammam selected is *
one's own
hair and the rest.' If a nila-parikammam is sought,
attention is fixed on the hair or bile (pit tarn) or the pupil
of the eye. If the induction is to be by way of yellow, fat
or skin may be taken ; if red, flesh, blood, or the tongue,
or the palms of the hands or feet, etc. ; if white, the teeth,
nails, or white of the eye. At the same time '
he sees
external bodily forms in the nila or other kasina ivith the
Jhana-vision '
(jhanacakkhuna passati).
How this dual effort of intense attention was effected I
do not pretend to understand, but Buddhaghosa more than
once refers us for a more detailed account to the Yisuddhi
Magga.
2 That is to say, says the Cy. (191), not the conscious
acquirement of the concept (a p pan a), but the consciousness
[Contmue as in the first Deliverance.] '
These three Deliverances may also be developed in
Sixteenfold Combination.
[IV.
The Four Jhanas of the Sublime Abodes (cattari
brahmaviharajhanan i).^
1. Love (mett a).
(a) Fourfold Jhana.]
[251] Which are the states that are good ?
When, that he may attain to the heavens of Form, he
of the perfection or purity of colour or lustre in the par-
ticular kasina is here meant. (The reading should, of
course, be subhan ti.) And this gesthetic consciousness
is declared by Buddhaghosa to quicken the sense of emanci-
pation from morally adverse conditions analogously to that
perception of moral beauty which may be felt in the Sublime
Abodes of the following sections. According to the Pati-
sambhida-magga, here quoted, when, on pervading the
whole world with heart of love, pity, etc., all feeling of
aversion from living beings is rooted out, the student is
struck with the glory of the idea, and works his deliver-
ance.
^ On these four great exercises, see Ehys Davids, S. B. E.
xi. 201, n. ; and, on their emancipating efficacy, M. i. 38.
Buddhaghosa again refers the reader to his Visuddhi Magga
for a more detailed commentary (vide chap, ix., and cf.
Hardy, ^Eastern Monachism,' p. 243 et seq.). The four
are set out here only under the *
Suddhika ' formulae—that
is, under heads (a) and (b). But (c), or the Modes of
Progress, as well as (d) and (e), are understood to follow
in each case (Asl. 192). The object of thought (a ram-
ma nam) in this connexion will be 'limited' if the student
dwells in love, etc., on but a restricted number of beings
;
'
infinite ' if his heart embrace vast numbers.
The commentator has not a little to say in the present
work, however, on the nature and mutual relations of the
'
Abodes '
(pp. 193-195). First, the characteristics of each
cultivates the way thereto, and so, aloof from sensuous
appetites, aloof from evil ideas, enters into and abides in the
First Jhana (the first rapt meditation), wherein conception
are fully set forth, together with their false manifestation
(vipatti). Clinging (sinehasambhavo) is the vipatti
of love, the essential mark of which is the carrying on of
beneficent conduct, etc. Tears and the like are less truly
characteristic of pity than is the bearing and relieving the
woes of others. Laughter and the like are less genuine
expressions of sympathy (mudita, which is strictly
(Tvyx^^P^^^^^Vi Mitfreude) than is appreciation of what
others have achieved. And there is a condition of dis-
interestedness (upekkha) which is prompted by ignorance,
and not by that insight into the karma of mankind which
can avail to calm the passions.
He next designates the four antisocial attitudes which
are to be extirpated by these ethical disciplines, taken in
order—ill-will (vyapado), cruelty (vihesa), aversion
(arati), and passion (rago)—and shows how each virtue
has also a second vice opposed to it. This he terms its near
enemy, as being less directly assailed by it than its ethical
opposite, the latter resembling an enemy who has to lurk
afar in the jungle and the hills. Love and vengeful conduct
cannot coexist. To prevail in this respect, let love be de-
veloped fearlessly. But where love and its object have too
much in common, love is threatened by lust. On this side
let love be guarded well. Again, the near enemy to pity,
more insidious than cruelty, is the self-pity pining for what
one has not got or has lost—a low, profane melancholy.
And the corresponding worldly happiness in what one has,
or in consequence of obliviousness as to what one has lost,
lies in wait to stifle appreciation of the good fortune of
others. Lastly, there is the unintelligent indifference of
the worldling who has not triumphed over limitations
nor mastered cause and effect, being unable to transcend
external things.
The remainder of his remarks are occupied with the
necessary ethical sequence in the four Abodes, and the
importance of observing method in their cultivation, and
finally with their other technical appellation of Ap pa-
manna, or Infinitudes. In this connexion he repeats the
touching illustration given in Hardy {pp. cit, 249) of the
works and thought discursive, which is born of solitude,
is full of joy and ease, and is accompanied by Love—then
the contact, etc. . . . [? continue as m § 1] . . . the balance
that arises—these . . . are states that are good.
[252] 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, is full of joy and ease, in that, set free . . . the
mind grows calm and sure, dwelling on high—and which is
accompanied by Love—then the contact, etc.
[Continue as in the foregoing,]
[253] 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
mother and her four children. Her desire for the growth
of the infant is as Metta; for the recovery of the sick
child as Karuna; for the maintenance of the gifts dis-
played by the youth as Mudita; while her care not to
hinder the career of her grown-up son is as Upekkha.
It may be remarked, by the way, that when Hardy, with
a foreigner's want of mudita, calumniates the Buddhist
mendicant (p. 250) as one who thinks about the virtues
of solidarity without practising them, he quite forgets that
these exercises are but preparations of the will for that
ministering to the intellectual needs of others to which the
recluse's life was largely devoted, and the importance of
which the Western, in his zeal for material forms of
charity, does not even now appreciate at its real value.
And Buddhism did not believe in giving the rein to good
impulses unregulated by intellectual control.
that is unbiassed and watchful dwelleth at ease '
—and so,
by earth-gazing, enters into and abides in the Third Jhana,
which is accompanied by Love^—then, etc,
[Continue as in the foregoing^]
(h) Fivefold Jhana.
[254-257] Repeat question and answers in §§ 167, 168,
170, 172, adding in each answer, as in the foregoing section,
'
and which is accompanied by Love.'^
2. Pity (karuna).
[258, 259] Repeat question and answers in the preceding
sections (a) and (h), hut substituting in each case *
and which
is accompanied by Pity ' for the clause on Love.
3. Sympathy (mudita).
[260, 261] Repeat question and anstvers in the preceding
two sections, hut substituting in each case '
and which is
accompanied by Sympathy ' for the clause on Pity.
4. Disinterestedness (upekkha).
[262] 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, and which is accompanied by Dis-
interestedness—then the contact, etc.
[Continue as in § 165.]
^ Love necessarily involves happiness (somanassam
= cetasikam sukham, § 10, n.), hence it cannot be
cultivated by way of the Fourth—or, under (Z>), Fifth
—
Jhana.
^ Omitting the Fifth Jhana. See preceding note.
The Four Jhanas of the Sublime Abodes may be de-
veloped in Sixteen Combinations. ''
[V.
The Jhana of Foul Things (asubha-jhanam.)]
[263] 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, enters into and abides in
the First Jhana, wherein, etc. . . . and which is accom-
panied by the idea of a bloated corpse^ . . .
\or] [264] of a discoloured corpse ...
[or] of a festering corpse ...
[or] of a corpse with cracked skin ...
\or\ of a corpse gnawn and mangled ...
[or] of a corpse cut to pieces ...
[or] of a corpse mutilated and cut in pieces . . .
[or] of a bloody corpse ...
[or] of a corpse infested with worms ...
[or] of a skeleton ...
then the contact . . . the balance which arises—these . . .
are states that are good.^
^ The formula of the First Jhana is understood to be
repeated in the case of each of the ten Asubhas, but of the
First only. For, in the words of the Cy. (p. 199), 'just
as on a swiftly-flowing river a boat can only be steadied
by the power of the rudder, so from the weakness (dubba-
latta) of the idea (in this case) the mind can only be
steadied in its abstraction by the power of conceptual
activity (vitakko).' And this activity is dispensed with
after the First Jhana.
^ For a more detailed account of this peculiar form of
moral discipline, the reader is again referred to the Visuddhi
Magga (chap. vi.). Hardy (' East. Mon.'), who quotes largely
from the Sinhalese commentary on the Visuddhi Magga,
may also be consulted (p. 247 et seq.). In the Satipat-
thana Sutta (D. 22. Cf. Warren, '
Buddhism in Transla-
The Jhana of Foul Things may be developed in Sixteen
Combinations.
[Here ends the Chapter on] Good in relation to the
Universe of Form.
tion,' p. 353 et seq, ; and M.I. 58) a system of nine Asubha-
meditations is set out in terms somewhat different. In
S. V. (pp. 129-131) five of the Asubhas, beginning with '
the
skeleton ' meditation, are prescribed in connexion with the
sambhojjhangas of mindfulness and disinterestedness.
And the same five are given in the Jhana Vagga of A. i. 42
(c/. A. iii. 323). The ten here given are said in the Cy.
(pp. 197-199) to be prescribed for such as were proved to be
passionately affected by the beauty of the body—of the figure,
skin, odour, firmness or continuity, plumpness, limbs and
extremities, symmetry, adornment, identifying self with the
body, or complacency in the possession of it (?kaye
mamattam; cf. S. N. 951), and teeth respectively. A dead
body is not essential to this kind of mind-culture, the Cy.
citing the cases of those Theras who obtained the requisite
Jhana by the glimpse of a person's teeth, or by the sight of
a rajah on his elephant. The essential procedure lay in
getting a clear and courageous grasp of the transience of
any living organism.
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