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A Buddhist Manual of Psychological Ethics of the Fourth Century B.C - Caroline A. F. Rhys Davids, 1900 - Complete Book

English

In the Sutta there translated in- stances of the colours are given, and, curiously enough, ' white ' is illustrated, not by milk, or the distant Himalaya snows, but by the morning star. ^ Followed by four more of the Eight Deliverances in the next chapter, §§ 265-268. The eighth alone is not given in the present work. See Maha Parinibbana Sutta, p. 30 ; A. iv. 306. According to the Cy. (190), the term ' deliverance ' (vimokkham, or adhimuccanam) is used 64 form,^ sees bodily forms, and so, aloof from sensuous appetites, aloof from evil ideas, enters into and abides in the First Jhana, etc. . . . then the contact, etc., which arises, these . . . are states that are good. 2. [249] When, that he may attain to the heavens of Form, he cultivates the way thereto, and, unconscious of his cor- poreal self, sees external bodily forms, and so, aloof from sensuous appetites, etc. [Continue as in preceding section.] 3. [250] When, that he may attain to the heavens of Form, he cultivates the way thereto, and, with the thought, * How fair it is !'^ aloof from sensuous appetites, etc. to denote the being set free from ' adverse conditions ' and their seductive fascinations, so that the attention is sus- tained with all the detachment and confidence that the child feels who is borne on his father's hip, his little limbs dangling, their clutch unneeded. ^ Eupi. Judging by the Cy. (190), this is equivalent to ajjhattam rupasaiiiii — that is, to the opposite of the term * unconscious of any part of his corporeal self,' the attitude prescribed in the Stations of Mastery, supra, § 204 et seq. The parikammam selected is * one's own hair and the rest.' If a nila-parikammam is sought, attention is fixed on the hair or bile (pit tarn) or the pupil of the eye. If the induction is to be by way of yellow, fat or skin may be taken ; if red, flesh, blood, or the tongue, or the palms of the hands or feet, etc. ; if white, the teeth, nails, or white of the eye. At the same time ' he sees external bodily forms in the nila or other kasina ivith the Jhana-vision ' (jhanacakkhuna passati). How this dual effort of intense attention was effected I do not pretend to understand, but Buddhaghosa more than once refers us for a more detailed account to the Yisuddhi Magga. 2 That is to say, says the Cy. (191), not the conscious acquirement of the concept (a p pan a), but the consciousness 65 [Contmue as in the first Deliverance.] ' These three Deliverances may also be developed in Sixteenfold Combination. [IV. The Four Jhanas of the Sublime Abodes (cattari brahmaviharajhanan i).^ 1. Love (mett a). (a) Fourfold Jhana.] [251] Which are the states that are good ? When, that he may attain to the heavens of Form, he of the perfection or purity of colour or lustre in the par- ticular kasina is here meant. (The reading should, of course, be subhan ti.) And this gesthetic consciousness is declared by Buddhaghosa to quicken the sense of emanci- pation from morally adverse conditions analogously to that perception of moral beauty which may be felt in the Sublime Abodes of the following sections. According to the Pati- sambhida-magga, here quoted, when, on pervading the whole world with heart of love, pity, etc., all feeling of aversion from living beings is rooted out, the student is struck with the glory of the idea, and works his deliver- ance. ^ On these four great exercises, see Ehys Davids, S. B. E. xi. 201, n. ; and, on their emancipating efficacy, M. i. 38. Buddhaghosa again refers the reader to his Visuddhi Magga for a more detailed commentary (vide chap, ix., and cf. Hardy, ^Eastern Monachism,' p. 243 et seq.). The four are set out here only under the * Suddhika ' formulae — that is, under heads (a) and (b). But (c), or the Modes of Progress, as well as (d) and (e), are understood to follow in each case (Asl. 192). The object of thought (a ram- ma nam) in this connexion will be 'limited' if the student dwells in love, etc., on but a restricted number of beings ; ' infinite ' if his heart embrace vast numbers. The commentator has not a little to say in the present work, however, on the nature and mutual relations of the ' Abodes ' (pp. 193-195). First, the characteristics of each 5 66 cultivates the way thereto, and so, aloof from sensuous appetites, aloof from evil ideas, enters into and abides in the First Jhana (the first rapt meditation), wherein conception are fully set forth, together with their false manifestation (vipatti). Clinging (sinehasambhavo) is the vipatti of love, the essential mark of which is the carrying on of beneficent conduct, etc. Tears and the like are less truly characteristic of pity than is the bearing and relieving the woes of others. Laughter and the like are less genuine expressions of sympathy (mudita, which is strictly (Tvyx^^P^^^^^Vi Mitfreude) than is appreciation of what others have achieved. And there is a condition of dis- interestedness (upekkha) which is prompted by ignorance, and not by that insight into the karma of mankind which can avail to calm the passions. He next designates the four antisocial attitudes which are to be extirpated by these ethical disciplines, taken in order — ill-will (vyapado), cruelty (vihesa), aversion (arati), and passion (rago) — and shows how each virtue has also a second vice opposed to it. This he terms its near enemy, as being less directly assailed by it than its ethical opposite, the latter resembling an enemy who has to lurk afar in the jungle and the hills. Love and vengeful conduct cannot coexist. To prevail in this respect, let love be de- veloped fearlessly. But where love and its object have too much in common, love is threatened by lust. On this side let love be guarded well. Again, the near enemy to pity, more insidious than cruelty, is the self-pity pining for what one has not got or has lost — a low, profane melancholy. And the corresponding worldly happiness in what one has, or in consequence of obliviousness as to what one has lost, lies in wait to stifle appreciation of the good fortune of others. Lastly, there is the unintelligent indifference of the worldling who has not triumphed over limitations nor mastered cause and effect, being unable to transcend external things. The remainder of his remarks are occupied with the necessary ethical sequence in the four Abodes, and the importance of observing method in their cultivation, and finally with their other technical appellation of Ap pa- manna, or Infinitudes. In this connexion he repeats the touching illustration given in Hardy {pp. cit, 249) of the 67 works and thought discursive, which is born of solitude, is full of joy and ease, and is accompanied by Love — then the contact, etc. . . . [? continue as m § 1] . . . the balance that arises — these . . . are states that are good. [252] Which are the states that are good ? When, that he may attain to the heavens of Form, he cultivates the way thereto, suppressing the working of conception and of thought discursive, and so, by earth- gazing, enters into and abides in the Second Jhana (the second rapt meditation), which is self -evolved, born of con- centration, is full of joy and ease, in that, set free . . . the mind grows calm and sure, dwelling on high — and which is accompanied by Love — then the contact, etc. [Continue as in the foregoing,] [253] Which are the states that are good ? When, that he may attain to the heavens of Form, he cultivates the way thereto, and further, through the waning of all passion for joy, holds himself unbiassed, the while, mindful and self-possessed, he experiences in his sense-con- sciousness that ease whereof the Noble Ones declare : * He mother and her four children. Her desire for the growth of the infant is as Metta; for the recovery of the sick child as Karuna; for the maintenance of the gifts dis- played by the youth as Mudita; while her care not to hinder the career of her grown-up son is as Upekkha. It may be remarked, by the way, that when Hardy, with a foreigner's want of mudita, calumniates the Buddhist mendicant (p. 250) as one who thinks about the virtues of solidarity without practising them, he quite forgets that these exercises are but preparations of the will for that ministering to the intellectual needs of others to which the recluse's life was largely devoted, and the importance of which the Western, in his zeal for material forms of charity, does not even now appreciate at its real value.