English
Just as wind goes swiftly, or any other swift-goer is called 'wind-swift' or 'bird-swift', even so these phenomena, arising with mind, go. There these phenomena go, thus 'mind-swift'. They are threefold: intention-originated, unperturbed, and resolve. And sevenfold: bodily good conduct, verbal good conduct. These are the ten wholesome courses of action. There, 'if with a purified mind' is mental action. 'He speaks' is verbal action. 'He acts' is bodily action. By these, in this discourse, the ten wholesome courses of action, though supreme, are supreme for the virtuous. It becomes for turning away, not for worldly progression. It becomes a discourse sharing in latent tendencies. This is the teaching. There, what is the analysis method? 'Mind-foremost are phenomena' means the roots of wholesome action and the eight perfect factors. This is the discourse. By 'reason' is the result of the ten wholesome courses of action, which is experienced as pleasant, free from ill-will. Like an inseparable shadow, it follows. This is the reason. By 'proximate cause' is the proximate cause of the eighteen mental investigations. 'Mind-foremost are phenomena' means these phenomena are the proximate cause for all wholesome aspects. 'If with a purified mind' means the clarity of mind; this is the proximate cause of the faculty of faith. 'He speaks' is for right speech. 'He acts' is the proximate cause for right action and right effort. By 'characteristic' is 'thus phenomena are foremost': these are also feeling-foremost, these are also perception-foremost, these are also volitional-formation-foremost. Whatever phenomena are co-arisen, all are foremost to these phenomena. Then happiness follows him: joy also follows him. What is a very pleasant shadow, then happiness also follows him, then it also follows. 84. Among these, what is the four-fold method? "Mind precedes all phenomena" - this is not a single statement. For what reason? All these six consciousness-groups, what is the Blessed One's intention in this? "Those who desire happiness, they purify their minds" - this is the Blessed One's intention in this discourse. The meaning has already been pointed out. Indeed, those roots of skillfulness, they are the cause of eight benefits, this is the eight-fold path. Ten points are causes for teaching, conditions for teaching, and indications. Among these, what one considers to be suffering, together with name-and-form and consciousness as truth, by means of a factor, the root of skillfulness is abandoned; this is the origin in the unabandoned stage. That which is their abandonment, this is cessation. These are the four truths. This is the revolving method. Analysis – Mind precedes all phenomena, Mind is chief, mind-made are they; If with a purified mind, One speaks or acts; Then happiness follows him, Like a shadow that never departs. This does not apply exclusively to a recluse or a brahmin. Or if one of wrong view purifies his mind in his own doctrine, and with that purified mind speaks or acts, happiness does not follow him, nor does a shadow accompany him; suffering alone follows him. Just as the wheel follows the foot of the draught-ox, this is to be explained by analysis. "If with a purified mind, bodily action and verbal action are experienced as happiness" - when rightly directed, it is experienced as happiness; when wrongly directed, it is experienced as suffering. This is the analysis. Among these, what is the revolving method? "Mind precedes all phenomena" - that which, with a defiled mind, one speaks or acts, suffering follows him. These two discourses are spoken, and this is indeed the opposite. Synonyms are: mind, thought, consciousness, mind-faculty, mind-consciousness element. Designation: "Mind precedes all phenomena" - this mind is designated by some designation. "Phenomena" are designated by the designation of skillful courses of action. "Mind is chief" is designated by a special designation. "Mind's swiftness" is designated by a co-designation. "Thought" is... It is designated by the mother's designation. "If with a mind serene" it is designated by the designation of the faculty of faith. "If with a mind serene" it is designated by the designation of the second jhāna, free from defilement, with a pure resolve. "If with a mind serene" it is designated by the designation of the opposite of the faithless. "He speaks" it is designated by the designation of right speech. "He acts" it is designated by the designation of right action. "Then happiness follows him" this is the jhāna-concentration. Among the faculties, the mind-faculty. In dependent origination, consciousness. "Mind precedes all mental states" this is loving-kindness and gentleness, and among the jhānas, the second jhāna and the third. Among the aggregates, it is included in the aggregate of formations. Among the elements, the mental element; among the sense-bases, the mental sense-base. That which is wholesome, among the faculties, the faculty of pleasure and the faculty of joy, is the proximate cause. Among these dependently arisen mental states, the feeling of pleasure due to contact, the feeling of pleasure, among the mental investigations, the investigation of joy, among the thirty-six, in the first sections, six are associated with the joy of renunciation. Thus, this is the descent method. Among these, what is the purification method? That meaning concerning which this discourse was spoken. That meaning is appointed for this discourse. This is the purification method. 85. Among these, what is the determination method? "Mind precedes all mental states" this is a designation of synonyms, not a designation of identity. "Mental states" this is a designation of identity, not of synonyms. "If with a mind serene" that serenity is of two kinds: internal, by the suppression of ill-will, and external, by the application of it. That internal serenity is of two kinds: serenity by eradication, and serenity by suppression of the obsession of ill-will. Hindrance is not fundamental serenity, nor is it rooted. Serenity is with ill-will, with hindrance. "Then happiness follows him" happiness is bodily and mental, separation from the unpleasant, association with the pleasant, the happiness of renunciation, the happiness of ordinary people, the enlightenment factor of rapture, mental happiness. And that happiness which one whose body is tranquil feels, that too is bodily happiness, and the enlightenment factors are mental happiness. And that which His body was tranquil, he felt happiness, and that, that basis of happiness, as declared by designation, is ungrasped by wholesome states. "It follows" means absorption is seen, and this is not a being who follows. This discourse should be understood in two ways. By cause, one whose mind is clear, and by result, one who feels suffering. "Equipage" means the Blessed One entered the city of Rājagaha with a community of five hundred monks. There, a certain person served the Blessed One, and faith arose in him, even one accustomed to previous wholesome roots. He also told others, speaking these words: "Fortunate are those, into whose dwelling the Blessed One enters. If it were ours too, we too would gain the Blessed One's serenity." Where the Blessed One was, he raised his hands in salutation, saying "Homage to the Blessed One, homage to the Blessed One," and stood to one side, without ill-will. Immediately after that, the Blessed One spoke this discourse: "Mind precedes all states." The whole discourse, and what he spoke to others, this is verbal action. What he did, raising his hands in salutation, this is bodily action. What was the clarity of mind, this is mental action. There, what he proclaimed and spoke was praise for others. "Into whose dwelling the Blessed One goes." All of that was his non-greed, a wholesome root. What was his mind of loving-kindness towards the Blessed One, that was his non-hatred, a wholesome root. What he did, raising his hands in salutation and suppressing conceit, there his non-delusion, a wholesome root, appeared. What he gained as excellent wisdom, this was his abandonment of perversion of view. What was his restraint in that very way, this was his abandonment of perversion of perception. What was the clarity of mind, this was his abandonment of perversion of consciousness, a condition for the suppression and abandonment of unwholesome perversions. The three wholesome roots, and his unclouded mental resolve, that is called his attention. What is suppression by defilements, thus perversions and objects are conditions by way of being co-dependent, and wholesome roots are conditions by way of being evident, and that attention is the cause. With this condition, consciousness arises. Therein, the consciousness that proceeds with the Teacher as its object, this is recollection of the Buddha. And when one brings to mind the qualities of the Blessed One, this is his recollection of the Dhamma. Therein, mindfulness and clear comprehension are the cause, and this is the condition. Speech and wisdom are the cause, thought and examination are the condition. Bodily formations, the accumulation of kamma, are called a cause, or a non-condition. The accumulation of kamma that leads to pleasant feeling is a cause, a condition for kamma. 86. Therein, what is the 'imposition' method? With a mind that is serene, one is serene therein. And beings are liberated by the purification of mind. Therefore, beings are preceded by mind. With a serene mind, volition also becomes mind-like therein. This aversion (is overcome) by the serenity of volitions. And his body is serene. And he begins with serenity. Serene are his perceptions, not distorted. This is five-fold: suppression, the serenity of bodily tranquility, mind-cooled. But the mind is already serene. This is the imposition. Thus, the serenity of all five. Then, "happiness follows him" - what does the Blessed One indicate by this?