English
" This has been said: "Because all enemies, called passion and so forth, were slain by the Lord with the sword of wisdom, therefore he is considered an Arahant." (Visuddhi. 1.126); And this wheel of transmigration, which has been turning from beginningless time, whose rim is old age and death, whose spokes are ignorance, becoming, craving, merit-formations, demerit-formations, and imperturbable formations, and which is pierced by the axle of the origin of the taints, as stated in "With the origin of the taints, there is the origin of ignorance" (M.N. 1.103), and yoked to the chariot of the three existences—of this, the Blessed One, having established himself at the foot of the Bodhi tree on the ground of the fourfold purity of virtue with the feet of right exertion and energy, and having taken the axe of knowledge that destroys kamma with the hand of faith, slew all the spokes. Therefore, he is called an Arahant because the spokes were slain. This has been said: "Because the spokes of the wheel of transmigration were slain by the Lord of the world with the sword of knowledge, therefore he is called an Arahant." (Visuddhi. 1.128); The Blessed One is worthy of the highest offerings of requisites such as robes, as he is the foremost recipient of offerings. Therefore, he is called an Arahant because he is worthy of requisites and so forth. This has been said: "Because this Lord of the world is worthy of special veneration along with requisites, therefore the Conqueror is worthy of this name 'Arahant' in the world, according to its meaning." (Visuddhi. 1.129); Just as some who consider themselves wise commit evil deeds in secret for fear of disgrace, the Blessed One never does so. Therefore, he is called an Arahant because there is no secrecy in his doing evil. This has been said: "Because there is no secrecy for such a one in evil deeds, therefore he is renowned as an Arahant due to the absence of secrecy." (Visuddhi. 1.130) – Thus, one should contemplate "Arahant" in terms of being far removed and so forth. But he is a Perfectly Self-Enlightened One (Sammāsambuddha) because he has rightly and by himself understood all phenomena. "Rightly" means in the proper way: phenomena to be fully known, he fully knew; phenomena to be abandoned, he abandoned; phenomena to be realized, he realized. things to be realized by realization, things to be developed by development— this is the meaning. "By oneself" means by oneself. For it has been said: "What is to be known has been known, What is to be developed has been developed; What is to be abandoned has been abandoned by me, Therefore, I am the Buddha, O brahmin." "Thus indeed is that Blessed One, Arahant, Perfectly Self-Enlightened, endowed with knowledge and conduct, the Fortunate One, Knower of the world, unsurpassed leader of persons to be tamed, teacher of gods and humans, the Buddha, the Blessed One"— when these nine kinds of qualities of the Blessed One are thus stated, the mindfulness that arises again and again is indeed recollection; or, because it is practiced in the proper place for practice, it is suitable mindfulness for a young man who has gone forth in faith, thus it is recollection; the recollection that arises concerning the Buddha is Buddhanussati (recollection of the Buddha). The mindfulness that thus proceeds in nine ways, that is called Buddhanussati—this is the meaning. However, Buddhanussati in all its aspects has been expounded by the teacher Buddhaghosa in the Visuddhimagga (Vis. 1.123 onwards); one who is interested should seek it from there. 463-4. The Elder, by showing the development of loving-kindness as something to be developed morning and evening for the four protections, intended to show it as a development of a universal meditation subject—this should be understood. Otherwise, according to the saying, "Having made oneself an example, one should neither strike nor kill," one should first develop it with the thought, "May I be happy, free from enmity," and so on, making one's mind firmly established in oneself, and then develop it gradually towards teachers, preceptors, and so forth. However, absorption does not occur in oneself. "In the alms-round village, among the rulers" is the connection. "Therein" (Parā. Aṭṭha. 2.165) means in the alms-round village. "Starting from the monks within the boundary, delimiting by delimiting"—this is the meaning. A monk thus developing loving-kindness generates a gentle mind among his co-residents in the monastic Sangha, and then he has a pleasant dwelling. With loving-kindness towards the deities within the boundary, he is well-protected by the deities with softened minds, by a righteous protection. With loving-kindness towards the rulers in the alms-round village, with a softened mind... He is well-protected and well-provided for by non-existent lords, by righteous protection. There, among humans, with minds purified by loving-kindness, he moves about unmolested by them. Towards all beings, with loving-kindness, his movement is unimpeded everywhere. 465-6. The connection is: "having established the hair and other parts by color, by shape, by location, by direction, and by delimitation." Here, "by color" (Visuddhimagga 1.110) means by the color of the hair and so on. "By shape" means by the shape of those very parts. "By location" means "this part is established in this particular location," thus, by the location of each and every part. "By direction" means in this body, above the navel is the upper direction, below is the lower direction; therefore, "this part is in this particular direction," thus, the direction should be established. "By delimitation" means there are two delimitations: delimitation by similar parts and delimitation by dissimilar parts. There, "this part is delimited below, above, and across by this particular delimitation," thus, the delimitation by similar parts should be understood. "Hair is not body-hair, body-hair is not hair," thus, the delimitation by dissimilar parts, in a way that they are unmixed. Having thus shown the way of establishing by these five aspects, now, to show how one should mentally attend, "anupubbato" (in due order) and so on is said. There, "anupubbato" means from the time of recitation, one should not mentally attend "hair, nails" in an alternating way, or "body-hair, hair" in a reverse order; but rather, "hair, body-hair" and so on, in due order, one should mentally attend. Even when mentally attending in due order, one should not attend too quickly, nor too slowly. The distraction of the mind by external, diverse objects should be restrained. The reading "paṇṇattiṃ samatikkamma, muñcantassānupubbato" (transcending the concept, letting go in due order) should be adopted. For if this is the case, the meaning becomes easily comprehensible through the process of meditation. Without mentally attending to the concept "hair, body-hair" and so on, the mind should be established in repulsiveness. "Muñcantassānupubbato" (letting go in due order) means whichever part comes into view, he meaning is, releasing them one by one. 467. Now, to show how the contemplation of repulsiveness should be done, it is said, "by color, source, and shape," and so on. The connection is, the contemplation is repulsive by these parts such as color. Here (VibhA. 356; Vism. 1.178), hairs are repulsive even by color. Thus, seeing some hair-color in gruel or rice, people feel disgust. They are repulsive even by shape. Thus, eating at night, touching something like a hair-shaped worm, people feel disgust. And their smell, when devoid of oiling and so on, and when thrown into fire, is extremely repulsive; thus, they are repulsive even by smell. Born from the exudation of pus, blood, urine, feces, bile, and phlegm, like a leaf of a vegetable growing in an impure place, they are repulsive even by source. Born in the heap of thirty-one parts, like a worm rising from a heap of dung, they are repulsive even by location. The meaning is, the contemplation that proceeds by taking the aspect of impurity in these objects such as a bloated corpse, a discolored corpse, a festering corpse, a dissected corpse, a gnawed corpse, a scattered corpse, a corpse scattered by animals, a bloody corpse, a worm-infested corpse, and bones, is called impurity. 468. But that death which is called cutting-off death, the cutting off of the suffering of the cycle of existence for Arahants (Vism. 1.167), momentary death, the momentary dissolution of formations, and conventional death, such as "the tree is dead," "the iron is dead," and so on, is not intended here. Here, death means the cutting off of the life faculty belonging to one existence. That too is of two kinds: timely death and untimely death. Among these, timely death occurs due to the exhaustion of merit, or the exhaustion of life-span, or the exhaustion of both. Untimely death occurs due to oppressive or destructive karma. The connection is, having contemplated wisely, "death will befall me," or "life will be cut off," or "death is death." 469-70. But for whom access concentration does not arise by this much, he Death should be recollected in these eight ways: from the presence of an executioner, from prosperity and adversity, from comparison, from the body being common to many, from the weakness of life, from its signlessness, from the limitation of its duration, and from the brevity of the moment. Now, to show these, it is said: "as the presence of an executioner," and so on. The connection is: The contemplation that death is present just like an executioner standing with a sword raised to cut off the head is called mindfulness of death. So it is in all cases. All health ends in sickness, all youth ends in old age, all life ends in death. Therefore, "This bodily prosperity of youth and so on is beautiful only as long as the adversity called death does not occur," and so on, from prosperity and adversity,