THE PATH
OF PURIFICATION
(VISUDDHIMAGGA)
BY
BHADANTACARIYA BUDDHAGHOSA
Translated from the Pali
by
BHIKKHU NANAMOLI
FIFTH EDITION
BUDDHIST PUBLICATION SOCIETY
Kandy Sri Lanka
[THE TRUTH OF SUFFERING]
[(i) BIRTH]
32. Now this word birth (jati) has many meanings. For in the passage
'[He recollects...] one birth (jati), two births' (D.i,81) it is becoming. In
the passage 'Visakha, there is a kind (jati) of ascetics called Niganthas
(Jains)' (A.i,206) it is a monastic order. In the passage 'Birth (jati) is
included in two aggregates' (Dhk. 15) it is the characteristic of whatever
is formed. In the passage 'His birth is due to the first consciousness
arisen, the first cognition manifested, in the mother's womb' (Vin.i,93)
it is rebirth-linking. [499] In the passage 'As soon as he was born
(sampatijata), Ananda, the Bodhisatta ...' (M.iii,123) it is parturition. In
the passage 'One who is not rejected and despised on account of birth'
(A.iii,152) it is clan. In the passage 'Sister, since I was born with the
noble birth' (M.ii,103) it is the noble one's virtue.
33. Here it should be regarded as the aggregates that occur from the
time of rebirth-linking up to the exit from the mother's womb in the case
of the womb-born, and as only the aggregates of rebirth-linking in the
case of the rest. But this is only an indirect treatment. In the direct sense,
however, it is the first manifestation of any aggregates that are mani-
fested in living beings when they are born anywhere that is called 'birth'.
34. Its characteristic is the first genesis in any [sphere of] becoming. Its
function is to consign [to a sphere of becoming]. It is manifested as an
emerging here from a past becoming; or it is manifested as the varied-
ness of suffering.
But why is it suffering? Because it is the basis for many kind of suf-
fering.
8
For there are many kinds of suffering, that is to say, intrinsic
suffering (dukkha-dukkha),
9
suffering in change (viparinama-dukkha),
and suffering due to formations (sankhara-dukkha); and then concealed
suffering, exposed suffering, indirect suffering, and direct suffering.
35. Herein, bodily and mental painful feeling are called intrinsic suffering
because of their individual essence, their name, and their painftilness.
[Bodily and mental] pleasant feeling are called suffering in change be-
cause they are a cause for the arising of pain when they change (M.i,303).
Equanimous feeling and the remaining formations of the three planes are
called suffering due to formations because they are oppressed by rise and
fall. Such bodily and mental affliction as earache, toothache, fever born
of lust, fever born of hate, etc., is called concealed suffering because it
can only be known by questioning and because the infliction is not
openly evident; it is also called 'unevident suffering'. The affliction
produced by the thirty-two tortures,
10
etc., is called exposed suffering
because it can be known without questioning and because the infliction
is openly evident; it is also called 'evident suffering'. Except intrinsic
suffering, all given in the exposition of the truth of suffering [in the
Vibhahga] (Vbh. 99) beginning with birth are also called indirect suffering
because they are the basis for one kind of suffering or another. But
intrinsic suffering is called direct suffering.
36. Herein, this birth is suffering because it is the basis for the suffering
in the states of loss as made evident by the Blessed One by means of a
simile in the Balapandita Sutta (M.iii,165f.), etc., and for the suffering
that arises in the happy destinies in the human world and is classed as
'rooted in the descent into the womb', and so on. [500]
37. Here the suffering classed as 'rooted in the descent into the womb',
and so on, is this: When this being is born in the mother's womb, he is
not born inside a blue or red or white lotus, etc., but on the contrary, like
a worm in rotting fish, rotting dough, cess-pools, etc., he is born in the
belly in a position that is below the receptacle for undigested food (stom-
ach), above the receptacle for digested food (rectum), between the belly-
lining and the backbone, which is very cramped, quite dark, pervaded by
very fetid draughts redolent of various smells of ordure, and exception-
ally loathsome.
11
And on being reborn there, for ten months he under-
goes excessive suffering, being cooked like a pudding in a bag by the
heat produced in the mother's womb, and steamed like a dumpling of
dough, with no bending, stretching, and so on. So this, firstly, is the
suffering rooted in the descent into the womb.
38. When the mother suddenly stumbles or moves or sits down or gets
up or turns round, the extreme suffering he undergoes by being dragged
back and forth and jolted up and down, like a kid fallen into the hands of
a drunkard, or like a snake's young fallen into the hands of a snake-
charmer, and also the searing pain that he undergoes, as though he had
reappeared in the cold hells, when his mother drinks cold water, and as
though deluged by a rain of embers when she swallows hot rice gruel,
rice, etc., and as though undergoing the torture of the 'lye-pickling' (see
M.i,87), when she swallows anything salty or acidic, etc.—this is the
suffering rooted in gestation.
39. When the mother has an abortion, the pain that arises in him through
the cutting and rending in the place where the pain arises that is not fit to
be seen even by friends and intimates and companions—this is the suf-
fering rooted in abortion.
40. The pain that arises in him when the mother gives birth, through his
being turned upside-down by the kamma-produced winds [forces] and
flung into that most fearful passage from the womb, like an infernal
chasm, and lugged out through the extremely narrow mouth of the womb,
like an elephant through a keyhole, like a denizen of hell being pounded
to pulp by colliding rocks—this is the suffering rooted in parturition.
41. The pain that arises in him after he is born, and his body, which is as
delicate as a tender wound, is taken in the hands, bathed, washed, rubbed
with cloths, etc., and which pain is like being pricked with needle points
and gashed with razor blades, etc.—this is the suffering rooted in ventur-
ing outside the mother's womb. [501]
42. The pain that arises afterwards during the course of existence in one
who punishes himself, in one who devotes himself to the practice of
mortification and austerity according to the vows of the naked ascetics,
in one who starves through anger, and in one who hangs himself—this is
the suffering rooted in self-violence.
43. And that arising in one who undergoes flogging, imprisonment, etc.,
at the hands of others is the suffering rooted in others' violence.
So this birth is the basis for all this suffering. Hence this is said:
Now were no being born in hell again
The pain unbearable of scorching fires
And all the rest would then no footing gain;
Therefore the Sage pronounced that birth is pain.
Many the sorts of pain that beasts endure
When they are flogged with whips and sticks and goads,
Since birth among mem does this pain procure,
Birth there is pain: the consequence is sure.
While ghosts know pain in great variety
Through hunger, thirst, wind, sun and what not too,
None, unless born there, knows this misery;
So birth the Sage declares this pain to be.
In the world-interspace, where demons dwell
In searing cold and inspissated gloom,
Is pain requiring birth there for its spell;
So with the birth the pain ensues as well.
The horrible torment a being feels on coming out,
When he has spent long months shut up inside the mother's
womb—
A hellish tomb of excrement—would never come about
Without rebirth: that birth is pain there is no room for doubt.
But why elaborate? At any time or anywhere
Can there exist a painful state if birth do not precede?
Indeed this Sage so great, when he expounded pain, took care
First to declare rebirth as pain, the condition needed there.
This, firstly, is the exposition of birth. [502]
[(ii) AGEING]
44. Ageing is suffering: ageing is twofold; as a characteristic of what-
ever is formed, and in the case of a continuity, as the oldness of aggre-
gates included in a single becoming, which oldness is known as broken-
ness' and so on (see M.iii,249). The latter is intended here.
But this ageing has as its characteristic the maturing (ripening) of
aggregates. Its function is to lead on to death. It is manifested as the
vanishing of youth. It is suffering because of the suffering due to forma-
tions and because it is a basis for suffering.
45. Ageing is the basis for the bodily and mental suffering that arises
owing to many conditions such as leadenness in all the limbs, decline
and warping of the faculties, vanishing of youth, undermining of strength,
loss of memory and intelligence, contempt on the part of others, and so
on.
Hence this is said:
With leadenness in every limb,
With every faculty declining,
With vanishing of youthfulness*
With memory and wit grown dim,
With strength now drained by undermining,
With growing unattractiveness
To wife and family and then
With dotage coming on, what pain
Alike of body and of mind
A mortal must expect to find!
Since ageing all of this will bring,
Ageing is well named suffering.
This is the exposition of ageing.
[(iii) DEATH]
46. Death is suffering: death too is twofold, as a characteristic of the
formed, with reference to which it is said, 'Ageing and death are in-
cluded in the aggregates' (Dhk. 15), and as the severing of the connexion
of the life faculty included in a single becoming, with reference to which
it is said, 'So mortals are in constant fear ... that they will die' (Sn. 576).
The latter is intended here. Death with birth as its condition, death by
violence, death by natural causes, death from exhaustion of the life span,
death from exhaustion of merit, are names for it.
47. It has the characteristic of a fall. Its function is to disjoin. It is
manifested as absence from the destiny [in which there was the rebirth].
It should be understood as suffering because it is a basis for suffering.
Hence this is said:
Without distinction as they die
Pain grips their minds impartially
When wicked men their foul deeds see
Or sign of new rebirth, may be,
Also when good men cannot bear
To part from all that they hold dear.
Then bodily pain severs sinews,
Joints and so on, and continues [503]
Torture unbearable, which racks
All those whose vitals death attacks
With grip that shall no more relax.'
Death is the basis of such pain,
And this suffices to explain
Why death the name of pain should gain.
This is the exposition of death.
[(iv) SORROW]
48. As regards sorrow, etc., sorrow is a burning in the mind in one
affected by loss of relatives, and so on. Although in meaning it is the
same as grief, nevertheless it has inner consuming as its characteristic,
its function is completely to consume the mind. It is manifested as con-
tinual sorrowing. It is suffering because it is intrinsic suffering and be-
cause it is a basis for suffering. Hence this is said:
Sorrow is a poisoned dart
That penetrates a being's heart;
Setting up a burning there
Like burning with a red-hot spear.
This state of mind brings future pain (see Ch. XVII, §273f.)
Such as disease, and then again
Ageing and death, so one may tell
Wherefor it is called pain as well.
This is the exposition of sorrow.
[(v) LAMENTATION]
49. Lamentation is verbal clamour on the part of one affected by loss of
relatives and so on. It has crying out as its characteristic. Its function is
proclaiming virtues and vices. It is manifested as tumult. It is suffering
because it is a state of suffering due to formations and because it is a
basis for suffering. Hence this is said:
Now when a man is struck by sorrow's dart and he laments
The pain he is already undergoing he augments
With pain born of dry throat and lips and palate, hard to bear.
And so lamenting too is pain, the Buddha did declare.
This is the exposition of lamentation.
[(vi) PAIN]
50. Pain is bodily pain. Its characteristic is the oppression of the body.
Its function is to cause grief in the foolish. It is manifested as bodily af-
fliction. It is suffering because it is intrinsic suffering, and because it
brings mental suffering. Hence this is said:
Pain distresses bodily,
Thereby distressing mentally again;
So acting fundamentally,
It therefore is especially called pain.
This is the exposition of pain. [504]
[(vii) GRIEF]
51. Grief is mental pain. Its characteristic is mental oppression. Its func-
tion is to distress the mind. It is manifested as mental affliction. It is
suffering because it is intrinsic suffering, and because it brings bodily
suffering. For those who are gripped by mental pain tear their hair, weep,
thump their breasts, and twist and writhe; they throw themselves upside-
down,
12
use the knife, swallow poison, hang themselves with ropes, walk
into fires, and undergo many kinds of suffering. Hence this is said:
Though grief itself distresses mind,
It makes distress of bodily kind occur,
And that is why this mental grief
Is pain, as those that have no grief aver.
This is the exposition of grief.
[(viii) DESPAIR]
52. Despair is the same as the humour produced by excessive mental
suffering in one affected by loss of relatives, and so on. Some say that it
is one of the states included in the formations aggregate. Its characteris-
tic is burning of the mind. Its function is to bemoan. It is manifested as
dejection. It is suffering because it is suffering due to formations, be-
cause of the burning of the mind, and because of bodily dejection. Hence
this is said:
So great the pain despair imparts
It burns the heart as with fever's flame;
The body's function it impairs
And so despair borrows from pain its name.
This is the exposition of despair.
53. Sorrow is like the cooking [of oil, etc.]
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in a pot over a slow fire.
Lamentation is like its boiling over from the pot when cooking over a
quick fire. Despair is like what remains in the pot after it has boiled over
and is unable to do so any more, going on cooking in the pot till it dries
up.
[(ix) ASSOCIATION WITH THE UNLOVED]
54. Association with the unloved is meeting with disagreeable beings
and formations (inanimate things). Its characteristic is association with
the undesirable. Its function is to distress the mind. It is manifested as a
harmful state. It is suffering because it is a basis for suffering. Hence this
is said:
The mere sight of an unloved thing
Brings firstly mental suffering,
And suffering of body too
Through touching it can then ensue.
And we therefore may recognize,
Since meeting the unloved gives rise
To either kind of pain, that He
Decided pain its name should be.
This is the exposition of association with the unloved. [505]
[(x) SEPARATION FROM THE LOVED]
55. Separation from the loved is to be parted from agreeable beings and
formations (inanimate things). Its characteristic is dissociation from de-
sirable objects. Its function is to arouse sorrow. It is manifested as loss.
It is suffering because it is a basis for the suffering of sorrow. Hence this
is said:
The dart of sorrow wounds the heart
Of fools who from their wealth must part or kin,
Which roughly should be grounds enough
For counting the loved lost as suffering.
This is the exposition of separation from the loved.
[(xi) NOT TO GET WHAT ONE WANTS]
56. Not to get what one wants: the want itself of some unobtainable
object [expressed] in such passages as 'Oh, that we were not subject to
birth!' (Vbh. 101) is called suffering since one does not get what is
wanted. Its characteristic is the wanting of an unobtainable object. Its
function is to seek that. It is manifested as disappointment. It is suffering
because it is a basis for suffering. Hence this is said:
When beings here expect to gain
Something they build their hopes upon
Which fails them, they are woebegone
With disappointment's numbing pain.
Thereof the cause is hope they wed
To something they cannot obtain:
'Not to get what one wants is pain'
The Conqueror has therefore said.
This is the exposition of not to get what one wants.
[(xii) THE FIVE AGGREGATES]
57. In short the five aggregates [as objects] of clinging:
Now birth and ageing and each thing
Told in describing suffering,
And those not mentioned, could not be
Were there no aggregates for clinging.
Wherefore these aggregates for clinging
Are taken in totality
As pain by Him, the Dhamma's King,
Who taught the end of suffering.
58. For birth, etc., thus oppress the pentad of aggregates [as objects] of
clinging as fire does fuel, as shooting does a target, as gadflies, flies,
etc., do a cow's body, as reapers do a field, as village raiders do a
village; and they are generated in the aggregates as weeds, creepers, etc.,
are on the ground, as flowers, fruits and sprouts are on trees.
59. And the aggregates [as objects] of clinging have birth as their initial
suffering, ageing as their medial suffering, and death as their final suf-
fering. The suffering due to burning in one who is the victim of the pain
that threatens death is sorrow. The suffering consisting in crying out by
one who is unable to bear that is lamentation. Next, the suffering con-
sisting in affliction of the body due to the contact of undesirable tangible
data, in other words, disturbance of the elements, is pain. [506] The
suffering oppressing the mind through resistance to that in ordinary people
oppressed by it, is grief. The suffering consisting in brooding14
in those
dejected by the augmentation of sorrow, etc., is despair. The suffering
consisting in frustration of wants in those whose hopes are disappointed
is not to get what one wants. So when their various aspects are exam-
ined, the aggregates [as objects] of clinging are themselves suffering.
60. It is impossible to tell it [all] without remainder, showing each kind
of suffering, even [by going on doing so] for many aeons, so the Blessed
One said 'In short the five aggregates [as objects] of clinging are suffer-
ing* in order to show in short how all that suffering is present in any of
the five aggregates [as objects] of clinging in the same way that the taste
of the water in the whole ocean is to be found in a single drop of its
water.
This is the exposition of the aggregates [as objects] of clinging.
This, firstly, is the method for the description of suffering.
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