English
knowledge and vision of things as they are has no basis. When knowledge and vision of things as they are is absent, for one lacking knowledge and vision of things as they are, disenchantment has no basis. When disenchantment is absent, for one lacking disenchantment, dispassion has no basis. When dispassion is absent, for one lacking dispassion, knowledge and vision of liberation has no basis. “Just as, friends, a tree lacking branches and leaves. Its outer bark does not reach fullness, nor its inner bark... nor its sapwood... nor its heartwood. Even so, friends, for one immoral, whose virtue is corrupted, freedom from remorse has no basis. When freedom from remorse is absent, for one lacking freedom from remorse, joy has no basis... up to knowledge and vision of liberation. “For one virtuous, friends, whose virtue is complete, freedom from remorse has a complete basis. When freedom from remorse is present, for one complete with freedom from remorse, joy has a complete basis. When joy is present, for one complete with joy, rapture has a complete basis. When rapture is present, for one complete with rapture, tranquility has a complete basis. When tranquility is present, for one complete with tranquility, happiness has a complete basis. When happiness is present, for one complete with happiness, right concentration has a complete basis. When right concentration is present, for one complete with right concentration, knowledge and vision of things as they are has a complete basis. When knowledge and vision of things as they are is present, for one complete with knowledge and vision of things as they are, disenchantment has a complete basis. is disenchantment. When there is disenchantment, for one endowed with disenchantment, dispassion is endowed with a proximate cause. When there is dispassion, for one endowed with dispassion, the knowledge and vision of liberation is endowed with a proximate cause. Just as, friends, a tree is endowed with branches and leaves. Its bark reaches fullness, its inner bark… its sapwood… its heartwood also reaches fullness. Even so, friends, for one virtuous, endowed with virtue, non-remorse is endowed with a proximate cause. When there is non-remorse, for one endowed with non-remorse, joy is endowed with a proximate cause… …the knowledge and vision of liberation. The Fourth. 5. The Third Upanisā Sutta There, indeed, Venerable Ānanda addressed the bhikkhus… …“Friends, for one of bad conduct, one deficient in virtue, non-remorse has its proximate cause destroyed. When there is no non-remorse, for one deficient in non-remorse, joy has its proximate cause destroyed. When there is no joy, for one deficient in joy, rapture has its proximate cause destroyed. When there is no rapture, for one deficient in rapture, tranquillity has its proximate cause destroyed. When there is no tranquillity, for one deficient in tranquillity, happiness has its proximate cause destroyed. When there is no happiness, for one deficient in happiness, right concentration has its proximate cause destroyed. When there is no right concentration, for one deficient in right concentration, knowledge and vision of things as they are has its proximate cause destroyed. When there is no knowledge and vision of things as they are, for one deficient in knowledge and vision of things as they are, disenchantment has its proximate cause destroyed. When there is no disenchantment, for one deficient in disenchantment, dispassion has its proximate cause destroyed. When there is no dispassion, for one deficient in dispassion, the knowledge and vision of liberation has its proximate cause destroyed. Just as, friends, a tree is deficient in branches and leaves. Its bark does not reach fullness, its inner bark… its sapwood… its heartwood also does not reach fullness. Even so, friends, for one of bad conduct, one deficient in virtue, non-remorse has its proximate cause destroyed. When there is no non-remorse, for one deficient in non-remorse, joy has its proximate cause destroyed… …the knowledge and vision of liberation. For one virtuous, friends, one endowed with virtue, non-remorse is endowed with a proximate cause. When there is freedom from remorse, for one endowed with freedom from remorse, joy becomes a condition. When there is joy, for one endowed with joy, rapture becomes a condition. When there is rapture, for one endowed with rapture, tranquility becomes a condition. When there is tranquility, for one endowed with tranquility, happiness becomes a condition. When there is happiness, for one endowed with happiness, right concentration becomes a condition. When there is right concentration, for one endowed with right concentration, knowledge and vision of things as they are becomes a condition. When there is knowledge and vision of things as they are, for one endowed with knowledge and vision of things as they are, disenchantment becomes a condition. When there is disenchantment, for one endowed with disenchantment, dispassion becomes a condition. When there is dispassion, for one endowed with dispassion, knowledge and vision of liberation becomes a condition. Just as, friends, a tree endowed with branches and leaves. Its outer bark also comes to full growth, its inner bark also... its sapwood also... its heartwood also comes to full growth. In the same way, friends, for one virtuous, endowed with virtue, freedom from remorse becomes a condition. When there is freedom from remorse, for one endowed with freedom from remorse, joy becomes a condition... ...up to knowledge and vision of liberation. The Fifth. 6. The Discourse on Misfortunes 6. "Monks, that monk who is abusive, who is reviling, who is a slanderer of noble ones, of his fellow practitioners, it is possible, it is an occasion, that he will fall into one of eleven misfortunes. Which eleven? He does not attain what is not yet attained, he declines from what is attained, his understanding of the Dhamma does not become clear, or he becomes conceited about the Dhamma, or he lives the holy life discontented, or he incurs some defiling offense, or he renounces the training and returns to a lower state, or he is afflicted by a severe illness, or he goes mad, or becomes deranged, he dies confused, and with the breaking up of the body, after death, he reappears in a state of deprivation, a bad destination, a lower realm, hell – that monk, monks, who is abusive, reviling... One who speaks ill, slanders noble ones, fellow practitioners, it is possible, it is an occasion, that he might fall into one of these eleven misfortunes. "Whatever monk, O bhikkhus, is abusive, reviling, slandering noble ones, fellow practitioners, it is impossible, it is not an occasion, that he would not fall into one of these eleven misfortunes. Which eleven? He does not attain what is not yet attained. He falls away from what is attained. His understanding of the good Dhamma does not become clear. Or he is conceited about the good Dhamma. Or he lives the holy life discontented. Or he falls into some defiling offense. Or he renounces the training and returns to a lower state. Or he is afflicted by a severe illness. Or he attains madness or mental derangement. He dies bewildered. With the breaking up of the body, after death, he reappears in a state of deprivation, a bad destination, a lower realm, hell. Whatever monk, O bhikkhus, is abusive, reviling, slandering noble ones, fellow practitioners, it is impossible, it is not an occasion, that he would not fall into one of these eleven misfortunes." Sixth. 7. The Discourse on Perception. 7. Then indeed, Venerable Ānanda approached the Blessed One. Having approached, and paid homage to the Blessed One, he sat down to one side. Seated to one side, Venerable Ānanda said this to the Blessed One: "Is it possible, Venerable Sir, for a monk to attain such a concentration that he would not perceive earth as earth, nor water as water, nor fire as fire, nor wind as wind, nor the dimension of infinite space as the dimension of infinite space, nor the dimension of infinite consciousness as the dimension of infinite consciousness, nor the dimension of nothingness as the dimension of nothingness, nor the dimension of neither perception nor non-perception as the dimension of neither perception nor non-perception, nor this world as this world, nor the other world as the other world, and whatever is d... what is seen, heard, sensed, cognized, attained, sought, pondered by mind, even there he would not be percipient; but would he be percipient? "It is possible, Ananda, for a monk to attain such a concentration that he would not be percipient of earth in earth, nor percipient of water in water, nor percipient of fire in fire, nor percipient of wind in wind, nor percipient of the dimension of infinite space in the dimension of infinite space, nor percipient of the dimension of infinite consciousness in the dimension of infinite consciousness, nor percipient of the dimension of nothingness in the dimension of nothingness, nor percipient of the dimension of neither perception nor non-perception in the dimension of neither perception nor non-perception, nor percipient of this world in this world, nor percipient of the other world in the other world, and as for what is seen, heard, sensed, cognized, attained, sought, pondered by mind, even there he would not be percipient; but he would be percipient." "But how, Venerable Sir, is it possible for a monk to attain such a concentration that he would not be percipient of earth in earth, nor percipient of water in water, nor percipient of fire in fire, nor percipient of wind in wind, nor percipient of the dimension of infinite space in the dimension of infinite space, nor percipient of the dimension of infinite consciousness in the dimension of infinite consciousness, nor percipient of the dimension of nothingness in the dimension of nothingness,