English
3. The Third Stage of Sutta-Based Foundations 32. What is here the Sutta-based foundation? The foundation of greed, the foundation of hatred, the foundation of delusion, the foundation of non-greed, the foundation of non-hatred, the foundation of non-delusion, the foundation of bodily action, the foundation of verbal action, the foundation of mental action, the foundation of the faculty of faith, the foundation of the faculty of energy, the foundation of the faculty of mindfulness, the foundation of the faculty of concentration, the foundation of the faculty of wisdom. What is here the foundation of greed? For a being agitated by thoughts, intensely passionate, seeing the pleasant; Craving further grows, this indeed makes the bond strong. "Agitated by thoughts" means sensual passion. "Seeing the pleasant" means the object of sensual passion. "Craving further grows" means sensual craving. "This makes the bond strong" means passion. Thus, whatever dhamma is laid down as the root, that very dhamma should be understood here. The Blessed One does not teach one dhamma by referring to another dhamma. When one thinks, it is a thought of sensual desire; that very thought is designated as a thought of sensual desire. "Intensely passionate" designates the object of that very thought. "Seeing the pleasant, craving further grows" designates that very passion as sensual craving. "This makes the bond strong" designates that very fetter of craving. Thus, it should be inferred in verses. Thus, in all explanations. Here the Blessed One designates one dhamma in three ways: as a consequence, as a cause, as a result. One who gives becomes dear, many attend to him, he attains fame, and glory grows; Undaunted, he enters an assembly, a man without stinginess becomes confident. Whatever gift is given, this is a meritorious deed consisting of giving. Here is the cause. And this: "Many attend to him," "fame" means the good reputation that arises in the world, that he becomes dear and pleasing to many people. And that he passes away without regret, this is the consequence. That by the breaking up of the body he is reborn among the gods—this is the fruit. This is founded on greed. 33. Therein, what is founded on hatred? Whoever takes life, And speaks falsehood; Takes what is not given in the world, And goes with another's wife; And whoever, that man, indulges in Intoxicating drinks and liquors. Not having abandoned the five enmities, He is called immoral; By the breaking up of the body, the foolish one, Is reborn in hell. "Whoever takes life"—he, being hateful, takes life. "And speaks falsehood"—he speaks falsehood for the purpose of harming. "And whoever, that man, indulges in intoxicating drinks and liquors"—hatred is the cause. And whoever indulges in intoxicating drinks and liquors, like one who lives with another's wife, generates enemies. "Not having abandoned the five enmities"—the transgression of the five precepts is the designation for all things born of hatred; by that very action born of hatred, he is called immoral. That dhamma also should be indicated by its cause and by its resultant fruit. Three are the marks of a fool: he is one who speaks ill, one who thinks ill, and one who does ill deeds. Therein, that which he strives for with body and speech, this is his doing of ill deeds. That by which he speaks falsehood as previously stated, this is his speaking ill. And that mental misconduct, that ill will, which he conceives, this is his thinking ill. That by which he, endowed with these three marks of a fool, experiences three corresponding sufferings and displeasures, and he is one who, whether in an assembly or a council, speaks a corresponding speech. When there are the ten unwholesome courses of action such as taking life, he experiences suffering and displeasure arising therefrom. Furthermore, when he sees a thief, an offender against the king, seized by the king and deprived of life, it occurs to him: "If the king were to know me, the king would also have me seized and deprived of life..." When he causes harm, he experiences suffering and sorrow because of that. And again, when the fool becomes established in his seat, (thinking) "What will be my destiny after death from here?" he experiences suffering and sorrow because of that. This is the cause, the characteristic of a fool. Three kinds of suffering are the outflow. At the breaking up of the body, he reappears in hells; this is the fruit. This is the basis of aversion. 34. What then is the basis of delusion? For hundreds and thousands, of eons will he wander on; or even more than that, from womb to womb he will go. Not grasping the Buddha's word, grasping formations as self; they will make an end of suffering, this possibility does not exist. Whoever enters this beginningless wandering, is born and dies, this is caused by ignorance. And whatever are the purposes of formations, those too are conditioned by ignorance. That non-seeing of the Buddha's word, this is stated in the ignorance discourse itself. And whoever takes formations as self, he holds five views regarding the five aggregates. "This is mine, this I am, this is my self" - this discourse is placed in ignorance, deposited in ignorance. Thus the Teacher teaches the Dhamma in the discourse by way of method. By what is not common, that alone should be taught there. Not anything else. Whatever recluses or brahmins, monks, do not understand "this is suffering" and the four noble truths in detail, that non-understanding there, this suffering, this is the cause. Not understanding, he fabricates various formations; this is the outflow. And whatever wrong views he grasps, thinking "this alone is true, all else is vain"; this is the outflow. That which brings about rebirth; this is the fruit. This Dhamma too is well-taught as to its cause, its fruit, and its outflow. Here, however, some dhammas are common. The cause, indeed, will be placed in the discourse from the very beginning. For example, what are these four, monks, wrong courses of action? There, whatever He goes by way of desire, and he goes by way of fear, this greed is a root of unwholesome action. That which is from hatred, this is hatred itself. That which is from delusion, this is delusion itself. Thus, these three roots of unwholesome action should be examined from the very beginning. Where one is to be indicated, there one is indicated. Likewise two, likewise three, for a cause or an outflow or a result should not be indicated without being presented at the outset. And here is the verse: From desire, from hatred, from fear, from delusion, Whoever transgresses the Dhamma; His fame declines, Like the moon in the dark fortnight. Where desire and this greed are as previously indicated. This is the basis of delusion. 35. What then is the basis of non-greed? “One who dwells contemplating impurity, Well-restrained in his senses; And moderate in food, Faithful and with aroused energy; Him Mara surely cannot overcome, Just as the wind cannot shake a rocky mountain.” There, the examination of impurity, this is the renunciation of sensual pleasures by seeing their danger. Well-restrained in the senses is for the perfection of that very non-greed, without clinging to my sense-fields. “Moderate in food” means the abandoning of craving for taste. Thus, this non-greed, by contemplating impurity, sustains it in terms of its object; that non-greed is the cause. By guarding the doors of the senses, it sustains it in terms of its range; by moderation in food, it sustains it in terms of others; this is the outflow. “Him Mara surely cannot overcome, just as the wind cannot shake a rocky mountain,” this is the result. Thus, the very Dhamma that is presented at the beginning, that same is in the middle and at the end. I do not, monks, see any other single quality that prevents the arising of unarisen sensual desire, or for the abandoning of arisen sensual desire, as this sign of impurity. There, for one who attends to the sign of impurity, unarisen sensual desire does not arise, and arisen sensual desire is abandoned. This is the basis of non-greed. And again, when sensual passion has not arisen, it consumes passion for form and passion for the formless. This is the result. Thus, this teaching is also explained in terms of cause, outflow, and result. This is the foundation of non-greed. What, then, is the foundation of non-hatred? If, with a mind free from ill-will, one cultivates loving-kindness towards even one being, one becomes skilled thereby; And feeling compassion in mind for all beings, the noble one performs abundant merit. "If, with a mind free from ill-will, one cultivates loving-kindness towards even one being" - this is non-hatred. The taste is by crushing (ill-will). "One becomes skilled thereby" - being endowed with that wholesome quality, one attains the designation of a wholesome state. "Skilled" is like one who is wise through wisdom, learned through learning. "The noble one performs abundant merit" - this is the result of that worldly (action), not of the supramundane. Therein, the cultivation of loving-kindness is the cause. That one becomes skilled is the outflow. As long as one generates much merit in the realm of non-harming, this is the result. Thus, non-hatred is explained in terms of cause, outflow, and result. There are eleven benefits of the liberation of mind through loving-kindness. Therein, the liberation of mind through loving-kindness is the liberation of mind from passion among the noble teachings, it is the cause for the worldly realm, that happiness which is pleasing to humans in the future, these eleven qualities are the outflow. And that one who has not done (evil) is reborn in the Brahma realm. This is the result. This is the foundation of non-hatred. 36. What, then, is the foundation of non-delusion? Wisdom indeed is supreme in the world, that which leads to penetration;