THE PATH
OF PURIFICATION
(VISUDDHIMAGGA)
BY
BHADANTACARIYA BUDDHAGHOSA
Translated from the Pali
by
BHIKKHU NANAMOLI
FIFTH EDITION
BUDDHIST PUBLICATION SOCIETY
Kandy Sri Lanka
[5. KNOWLEDGE OF DISPASSION]
43. When he sees all formations in this way as danger, he becomes dis-
passionate towards, is dissatisfied with, takes no delight in the manifold
field of formations belonging to any kind of becoming, destiny, station
of consciousness, or abode of beings. Just as a golden swan that loves
the foothills of Citta Peak finds delight, not in a filthy puddle at the gate
of a village of outcastes, but only in the seven great lakes (see Ch. XIII,
§38), so too this meditator swan finds delight, not in the manifold for-
mations seen clearly as danger, but only in the seven contemplations,
because he delights in development. And just as the lion, king of beasts,
finds delight, not when put into a gold cage, but only in Himalaya with
its three thousand leagues' extent, so too the meditator lion finds delight,
not in the triple becoming of the happy destiny,
14
but only in the three
contemplations. And just as Chaddanta, king of elephants, all white with
sevenfold stance, possessed of supernormal power, who travels through
the air,
15
finds pleasure, not in the midst of a town, but only in the
Chaddanta Lake and Wood in the Himalaya, [651] so too this meditator
elephant finds delight, not in any formation, but only in the state of
peace seen in the way beginning 'Non-arising is safety', and his mind
tends, inclines, and leans towards that.
Knowledge of contemplation of dispassion is ended.
44. [Knowledge of contemplation of danger] is the same as the last two
kinds of knowledge in meaning. Hence the Ancients said: * Knowledge
of appearance as terror while one only has three names: It saw all forma-
tions as terror, thus the name "appearance as terror" arose; it aroused the
[appearance of] danger in those same formations, thus the name "con-
templation of danger" arose; it arose, becoming dispassionate towards
those same formations, thus the name "contemplation of dispassion"
arose'. Also it is said in the text: 'Understanding of appearance as terror,
knowledge of danger, and dispassion: these things are one in meaning,
only the letter is different' (Ps.ii,63).
[6. KNOWLEDGE OF DESIRE FOR DELIVERANCE]
45. When, owing to this knowledge of dispassion, this clansman be-
comes dispassionate towards, is dissatisfied with, takes no delight in any
single one of all the manifold formations in any kind of becoming,
generation, destiny, station of consciousness, or abode of beings, his
mind no longer sticks fast, cleaves, fastens on to them, and he becomes
desirous of being delivered from the whole field of formations and es-
caping from it. Like what?
46. Just as a fish in a net, a frog in a snake's jaws, a jungle fowl shut
into a cage, a deer fallen into the clutches of a strong snare, a snake in
the hands of a snake charmer, an elephant stuck fast in a great bog, a
royal naga in the mouth of a supanna, the moon inside RAhu's mouth,
16
a man encircled by enemies, etc.—just as these are desirous of being
delivered, of finding an escape from these things, so too this meditator's
mind is desirous of being delivered from the whole field of formations
and escaping from it. Then, when he thus no longer relies on any forma-
tions and is desirous of being delivered from the whole field of forma-
tions, knowledge of desire for deliverance arises in him.
Knowledge of desire for deliverance is ended.
[7. KNOWLEDGE OF REFLEXION]
47. Being thus desirous of deliverance from all the manifold formations
in any kind of becoming, generation, destiny, station, or abode, in order
to be delivered from the whole field of formations [652] he again dis-
cerns those same formations, attributing to them the three characteristics
by knowledge of contemplation of reflexion.
48. He sees all formations as impermanent for the following reasons:
because they are non-continuous, temporary, limited by rise and fall, dis-
integrating, fickle, perishable, unenduring, subject to change, coreless,
due to be annihilated, formed, subject to death, and so on.
He sees them as painful for the following reasons: because they are
continuously oppressed, hard to bear, the basis of pain, a disease, a
tumour, a dart, a calamity, an affliction, a plague, a disaster, a terror, a
menace, no protection, no shelter, no refuge, a danger, the root of calam-
ity, murderous, subject to cankers, MAra's bait, subject to birth, subject
to ageing, subject to illness, subject to sorrow, subject to lamentation,
subject to despair, subject to defilement, and so on.
He sees all formations as foul (ugly)—the ancillary characteristic to
that of pain—for the following reasons: because they are objectionable,
stinking, disgusting, repulsive, unaffected by disguise, hideous, loath-
some, and so on.
He sees all formations as not-self for the following reasons: because
they are alien, empty, vain, void, ownerless, with no Overlord, with none
to wield power over them, and so on.
It is when he sees formations in this way that he is said to discern
them by attributing to them the three characteristics.
49. But why does he discern them in this way? In order to contrive the
means to deliverance. Here is a simile: a man thought to catch a fish, it
seems, so he took a fishing net and cast it in the water. He put his hand
into the mouth of the net under the water and seized a snake by the neck.
He was glad, thinking 'I have caught a fish'. In the belief that he had
caught a big fish, he lifted it up to see. When he saw three marks, he
perceived that it was a snake and he was terrified. He saw danger, felt
dispassion (revulsion) for what he had seized, and desired to be deliv-
ered from it. Contriving a means to deliverance, he unwapped [the coils
from] his hand, starting from the tip of its tail. Then he raised his arm,
and when he had weakened the snake by swinging it two or three times
round his head, he flung it away, crying 'Go, foul snake'. Then quickly
scrambling up on to dry land, he stood looking back whence he had
come, thinking 'Goodness, I have been delivered from the jaws of a
huge snake!'.
50. Herein, the time when the meditator was glad at the outset to have
acquired a person is like the time when the man was glad to have seized
the snake by the neck. This meditator's seeing the three characteristics in
formations after effecting resolution of the compact [into elements] is
like the man's seeing the three marks on pulling the snake's head out of
the mouth of the net. [653] The meditator's knowledge of appearance as
terror is like the time when the man was frightened. Knowledge of con-
templation of danger is like the man's thereupon seeing the danger.
Knowledge of contemplation of dispassion is like the man's dispassion
(revulsion) for what he had seized. Knowledge of desire for deliverance
is like the man's deliverance from the snake. The attribution of the three
characteristics to formations by knowledge of contemplation of reflexion
is like the man's contriving a means to deliverance. For just as the man
weakened the snake by swinging it, keeping it away and rendering it
incapable of biting, and was thus quite delivered, so too this meditator
weakens formations by swinging them with the attribution of the three
characteristics, rendering them incapable of appearing again in the modes
of permanence, pleasure, beauty, and self, and is thus quite delivered.
That is why it was said above that he discerns them in this way 'in order
to contrive the means to deliverance'.
51. At this point knowledge of reflexion has arisen in him, with refer-
ence to which it is said: 'When he brings to mind as impermanent, there
arises in him knowledge after reflecting on what? When he brings to
mind as painful, ... as not-self, there arises in him knowledge after re-
flecting on what? When he brings to mind as impermanent, there arises
in him knowledge after reflecting on the sign. When he brings to mind as
painful, there arises in him knowledge after reflecting on occurrence.
When he brings to mind as not-self, there arises in him knowledge after
reflecting on the sign and occurrence' (Ps.ii,63).
52. As here after reflecting on the sign [means] having known the sign
of formations by means of the characteristic of impermanence as un-
lasting and temporary. Of course, it is not
17
that, first having known,
subsequently knowledge arises; but it is expressed in this way according
to common usage, as in the passage beginning 'Due to (lit. having de-
pended upon) mind and mental object, mind-consciousness arises'
(M.i,l 12), and so on. Or alternatively, it can be understood as expressed
thus according to the method of identity by identifying the preceding
with the subsequent. The meaning of the remaining two expressions [that
is, 'occurrence' and 'the sign and occurrence'] should be understood in
the same way.
Knowledge of contemplation of reflexion is ended.
[DISCERNING FORMATIONS AS VOID]
53. Having thus discerned by knowledge of contemplation of reflexion
that 'All formations are void' (see S.iii,167), he again discerns voidness
in the double logical relation18
thus: 'This is void of self or of what be-
longs to self (M.ii,263; Ps.ii,36).
When he has thus seen that there is neither a self nor any other
[thing or being] occupying the position of a self's property, he again
discerns voidness in the quadruple logical relation as set forth in this
[654] passage: 'I am not anywhere anyone's owning, nor is there any-
where my owning in anyone (ndharh kvacani kassaci kihcanaf asmirh
na ca mama kvacani kisminci kihcanaf atthiy (M.ii,263).
19
How?
54. (i) This [meditator, thinking] I .. . not anywhere (naham kvacani),
does not see a self anywhere, (ii) [Thinking] am ... anyone's owning
(kassaci kincanat' asmim), he does not see a self of his own to be in-
ferred in another's owning; the meaning is that he does not see [a self of
his own] deducible by conceiving a brother [to own it] in the case of a
brother,
20
a friend [to own it] in the case of a friend, or a chattel [to own
it] in the case of a chattel, (iii) [As regards the phrase] nor ... anywhere
my (na ca mama kvacani), leaving aside the word my (mama) here for
the moment, [the words] nor anywhere (na ca kvacani) [means that] he
does not
21
see another's self anywhere, (iv) Now bringing in the word my
(mama), [we have] is there ...my owning in anyone (mama kisminci
kincanat' atthi): he does not see thus, 'Another's self exists owing to
some state of my owning22
[of it]'; the meaning is that he does not see in
any instance another's self deducible owing to this fact of his owning a
brother in the case of a brother, a friend in the case of a friend, chattel in
the case of a chattel. So (i) he sees no self anywhere [of his own], (ii) nor
does he see it as deducible in the fact of another's owning, (iii) nor does
he see another's self, (iv) nor does he see that as deducible in the fact of
his own owning.
23
This is how he discerns voidness in the quadruple
logical relation.
55. Having discerned voidness in the quadruple logical relation in this
way, he discerns voidness again in six modes. How? Eye (i) is void of
self, (ii) or of the property of a self, (iii) or of permanence, (iv) or of
lastingness, (v) or of eternalness, (vi) or of non-subjectness to change;
... mind ... visible data ... mental data ... eye-consciousness ... mind-
consciousness ... mind-contact... (Nd.2,187, Siamese; Nd.2,279, P.T.S.;
cf. S.iv,54), and this should be continued as far as ageing-and-death (see
Ch. XX, §9).
56. Having discerned voidness in the six modes in this way, he discerns
it again in eight modes, that is to say: 'Materiality has no core, is core-
less, without core, as far as concerns (i) any core of permanence, or (ii)
core of lastingness, or (iii) core of pleasure, or (iv) core of self, or as far
as concerns (v) what is permanent, or (vi) what is lasting, or (vii) what is
eternal, or (viii) what is not subject to change. Feeling ... perception ...
formations ... consciousness ... eye ... (etc., see Ch. XX, §9) ... ageing-
and-death has no core, is coreless, without a core, as far as concerns any
core of permanence, or core of lastingness, or core of pleasure, or core of
self, or as far as concerns what is permanent, or what is lasting, or what
is eternal, or what is not subject to change. Just as a reed has no core, is
coreless, without core; just as a castor-oil plant, an udumbara (fig) tree,
a setavaccha tree, a palibhaddaka tree, a lump of froth, a bubble on
water, a mirage, a plantain trunk, [655] a conjuring trick, has no core, is
coreless, without core, so too materiality ... (etc.) ... ageing-and-death
has no core ... or what is subject to change' (Nd.2,184-85, Siamese;
Nd.2, 278-89, P.T.S.).
57. Having discerned voidness in eight modes in this way, he discerns it
again in ten modes. How? 'He sees materiality as empty, as vain, as not-
self, as having no Overlord, as incapable of being made into what one
wants, as incapable of being had [as one wishes], as insusceptible to the
exercise of mastery, as alien, as secluded [from past and future]. He sees
feeling ... (etc.) ... consciousness as empty, ... as secluded'
24
(Nd.2,
279, P.T.S.).
58. Having discerned voidness in ten modes in this way, he discerns it
again in twelve modes, that is to say: 'Materiality is no living being,
25
no
soul, no human being, no man, no female, no male, no self, no property
of a self, not I, not mine, not another's, not anyone's. Feeling ... (etc.)
... consciousness ... not anyone's (Nd.2,186, Siamese; Nd.2,280, P.T.S.).
59. Having discerned voidness in twelve modes in this way, he discerns
it again in forty-two modes through full-understanding as investigating.
He sees materiality as impermanent, as painful, as a disease, a tumour, a
dart, a calamity, an affliction, as alien, as disintegrating, a plague, a
disaster, a terror, a menace, as fickle, perishable, unenduring, as no
protection, no shelter, no refuge, as unfit to be a refuge, as empty, vain,
void, not-self, as without satisfaction,
26
as a danger, as subject to change,
as having no core, as the root of calamity, as murderous, as due to be
annihilated, as subject to cankers, as formed, as Maira's bait, as subject to
birth, subject to ageing, subject to illness, subject to death, subject to sor-
row, lamentation, pain, grief and despair; as arising, as departing; as
danger,
27
as (having an) escape. He sees feeling ... (etc.) ... conscious-
ness ... as (having an) escape (cf. Ps.ii,238).
60. And this is said too:
28
'When he sees materiality as impermanent...
as (having an) escape, he looks upon the world as void. When he sees
feeling ... (etc.) ... consciousness as impermanent ... as (having an)
escape, he looks upon the world as void'. [656]
'Let him look on the world as void:
Thus, Mogharaja, always mindful,
He may escape the clutch of death
By giving up belief in self.
For King Death cannot see the man
That looks in this way on the world'
(Sn.1119: Nd.2,190, Siamese; Nd.2,278, P.T.S.).
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