清淨道論 白話全本 · 冊1Visuddhimagga · Complete Vernacular · Vol. 1

The vernacular of this unit is this edition’s own rendering-with-exposition from the Pāli original (tr. mine); see this unit’s apparatus for the base-text particulars.

§1 The Outline Verse and the Deity’s Question 〔No number〕

Homage to that Blessed One, the Arahant, the Perfectly Enlightened One.

Path of Purity¹

(First Part)

Discussion Beginning with the Introduction

A wise person established in virtue develops mind and wisdom; an ardent and prudent bhikkhu—he can disentangle this tangle.

Thus it was said. Why was this said? It is related that, while the Blessed One was dwelling at Sāvatthī, a certain deity approached him during the night and, wishing to eradicate his own doubt, asked this question:

An inner tangle and an outer tangle—people are entangled in a tangle. Gotama, I ask you this: who can disentangle this tangle?

This is the question he asked. Its meaning in brief is as follows. “Tangle” (jaṭā) is a designation for craving (taṇhā), the net-maker. Because craving arises again and again upon visible form and other objects, from below upward, and because its nature is to interweave, it resembles the tangle called a network of branches in a bamboo thicket and the like; therefore it is called a “tangle.” Since it arises in one’s own requisites and those of others, in one’s own person and those of others, and in the internal and external sense bases, it is called an “inner tangle” and an “outer tangle.” People are entangled by the tangle that arises in this way. Just as bamboo and the like are entangled by the tangles of bamboo thickets and the like, so this whole mass of beings called “people” is entangled, bound, and interwoven by the tangle of craving. This is the meaning. Precisely because they are thus entangled, the deity said, “Gotama, I ask you this,” meaning, “Therefore I ask you.” “Gotama” (Gotama) addresses the Blessed One by his clan name. “Who can disentangle this tangle?” asks: who can unravel this tangle that stands entangling the three realms? Who is capable of unraveling it?

When thus questioned, the Blessed One—whose range of knowledge is unobstructed in all phenomena, the deity of deities, surpassing Sakka among Sakkas and Brahmā among brahmās, assured through the four kinds of intrepidity, possessor of the ten powers, possessed of unobstructed knowledge, and all-seeing—answered that meaning by speaking this verse:

A wise person established in virtue develops mind and wisdom; an ardent and prudent bhikkhu—he can disentangle this tangle.

This is the verse he spoke.

§2 The Author’s Verses of Intention and the Explanation of “Path of Purity” 〔No number–CSCD §3〕

Now, concerning this verse spoken by the Great Sage, I shall explain as it truly is the meaning differentiated as virtue and the rest.

Some have gained the exceedingly rare going forth in the Victor’s Dispensation, yet do not know the secure and direct path to purity that comprises virtue and the rest.

Here, though wishing for purity, some meditators do not know it as it truly is; though they strive, they do not attain purity.

To bring gladness to them, I shall expound the Path of Purity, whose analysis is thoroughly purified and which rests upon the method of teaching of those who dwell at the Great Monastery.

As I expound it, all good people who desire purity, listen attentively and with care.

Here, “purity” should be understood as nibbāna, free from every stain and utterly pure. The path to that purity is the “Path of Purity.” “Path” means the means of attainment. The meaning is: I shall expound that Path of Purity.

This path to purity is taught in some places solely in terms of insight (vipassanā). As it is said:

When with wisdom he sees that “all formations are impermanent,” he then becomes disenchanted with suffering—this is the path to purity.

In some places it is taught in terms of absorption and wisdom. As it is said:

Whoever possesses absorption and wisdom is indeed close to nibbāna.

In some places it is taught in terms of action and the rest. As it is said:

Action, knowledge, and Dhamma; virtue and the highest livelihood— by these mortals are purified, not by clan or wealth.

In some places it is taught in terms of virtue and the rest. As it is said:

Ever possessed of virtue, wise and well concentrated, one who has aroused energy and applied himself crosses the flood so difficult to cross.

In some places it is taught in terms of the establishments of mindfulness and the rest. As it is said:

“Bhikkhus, this is the one-way path for the purification of beings … up to … for the realization of nibbāna, namely, the four establishments of mindfulness.”

The same method applies to the right strivings and the rest. In this question and answer, however, it is taught in terms of virtue and the rest.

§3 Word-by-Word Explanation of the Outline Verse 〔CSCD §4〕

Here is a brief explanation of the outline verse. “Established in virtue” means standing in virtue. Only a person who is fulfilling virtue is said here to be “standing in virtue”; therefore the meaning is: established in virtue through the fulfillment of virtue. “Person” means a being. A “wise person” is one who possesses the wisdom of a three-rooted rebirth-linking consciousness produced by kamma.² “Develops mind and wisdom” means developing concentration (samādhi)³ and insight: here concentration is indicated under the heading of “mind,” while insight is indicated by the word “wisdom.” An “ardent person” is one possessed of energy, for energy is called “ardor” because it burns and thoroughly burns the defilements; one who has this ardor is “ardent.” “Prudent” means possessed of prudence, which is a name for wisdom; what this word indicates is safeguarding wisdom. In this question and answer, wisdom occurs three times: the first is innate wisdom, the second insight-wisdom, and the third safeguarding wisdom, which guides every task. Because he sees danger in saṃsāra, he is called a “bhikkhu.” “He can disentangle this tangle” means the bhikkhu who possesses these six qualities: virtue, concentration indicated under the heading of “mind,” the three kinds of wisdom, and ardor.

Suppose a person stood upon the earth and raised a well-sharpened knife to disentangle a great bamboo thicket. Just so, standing upon the earth of virtue, with the hand of safeguarding wisdom held up by the strength of energy, the bhikkhu raises the knife of insight-wisdom sharpened on the whetstone of concentration and disentangles, cuts through, and breaks apart the entire tangle of craving that has fallen upon his own continuum. At the moment of the path he is called one who disentangles that tangle; at the moment of fruition, having disentangled the tangle, he becomes the foremost recipient of gifts in the world together with its deities. Therefore the Blessed One said:

A wise person established in virtue develops mind and wisdom; an ardent and prudent bhikkhu—he can disentangle this tangle.

§4 The Three Trainings and Nine Triads of Qualities 〔CSCD §5〕

Regarding the wisdom by virtue of which he is called “wise,” there is nothing for him to do, because that wisdom has already been accomplished solely through the power of past kamma. But through the energy spoken of in “ardent and prudent,” he should become one who acts continuously; through wisdom, one who acts with clear comprehension. Thus established in virtue, he should develop serenity (samatha) and insight⁴, spoken of under the headings “mind” and “wisdom.” Here the Blessed One reveals the Path of Purity through the gateways of virtue, concentration, and wisdom.

For thus far he has already revealed the three trainings, the Dispensation good in three ways, the supporting conditions for the three knowledges and the rest, avoidance of the two extremes and cultivation of the middle way, the means of surmounting bad destinations and the rest, abandonment of the defilements in three modes, the opposites of transgression and the rest, purification from the three kinds of defilement, and the causes of stream-entry and the other attainments.

How so? Here virtue reveals the training in higher virtue, concentration the training in higher mind, and wisdom the training in higher wisdom.

Virtue also reveals the Dispensation’s goodness in the beginning. Because it is said, “What is the beginning of wholesome qualities? Virtue that is thoroughly purified,” and also, “The not doing of any evil,” virtue is the beginning of the Dispensation. It is good because it brings such qualities as nonremorse. Concentration reveals its goodness in the middle. Because it is said, “The fulfillment of the wholesome,” concentration occupies the middle of the Dispensation. It is good because it brings such qualities as the kinds of supernormal power. Wisdom reveals the Dispensation’s goodness at the end. Because it is said, “The purification of one’s own mind—this is the Dispensation of the Buddhas,” and because wisdom is supreme, wisdom is the culmination of the Dispensation. It is good because it brings sameness toward what is agreeable and disagreeable.

Just as a solid mass of rock is not shaken by the wind, so the wise are not moved amid blame and praise.

Thus it was said.

Similarly, virtue reveals the supporting condition for the three knowledges, for it is by relying on the accomplishment of virtue that one attains the three knowledges, and not beyond this. Concentration reveals the supporting condition for the six direct knowledges, for it is by relying on the accomplishment of concentration that one attains the six direct knowledges, and not beyond this. Wisdom reveals the supporting condition for the divisions of analytic knowledge, for it is by relying on the accomplishment of wisdom that one attains the four analytic knowledges, and not through another cause.

Virtue also reveals the avoidance of the extreme called devotion to sensual pleasure; concentration reveals the avoidance of the extreme called devotion to self-mortification; wisdom reveals cultivation of the middle way.

Similarly, virtue reveals the means of surmounting the bad destinations, concentration the means of surmounting the sensual realm, and wisdom the means of surmounting all becoming.

Virtue also reveals abandonment of the defilements by substitution, concentration abandonment by suppression, and wisdom abandonment by cutting off.

Similarly, virtue reveals the antidote to the defilements’ transgression, concentration the antidote to their obsessive arising, and wisdom the antidote to their latent tendencies.

Virtue also reveals purification from the defilement of misconduct, concentration purification from the defilement of craving, and wisdom purification from the defilement of views.

Similarly, virtue reveals the cause of the state of a stream-enterer and a once-returner, concentration the cause of the state of a non-returner, and wisdom the cause of arahantship. For the stream-enterer is called “one who completely fulfills the virtues,” and so too is the once-returner; the non-returner, however, is called “one who completely fulfills concentration,” and the arahant “one who completely fulfills wisdom.”

Thus far, then, the three trainings, the Dispensation good in three ways, the supporting conditions for the three knowledges and the rest, avoidance of the two extremes and cultivation of the middle way, the means of surmounting bad destinations and the rest, abandonment of the defilements in three modes, the opposites of transgression and the rest, purification from the three kinds of defilement, and the causes of stream-entry and the other attainments—these nine, together with other such triads of qualities, have all been revealed.

Notes

¹ This line is the title of the work. Its wording is identical to the common noun “path of purity” explained below, but its function is different; the Chinese title of the work is Treatise on the Path of Purity.

² Wisdom of a three-rooted rebirth-linking consciousness: wisdom conascent with rebirth-linking consciousness (paṭisandhi), the first mind-moment of a life, and produced by kamma. It is the first of the three kinds of wisdom below, “innate wisdom.”

³ The two grades of concentration (samādhi): access concentration (upacāra-samādhi) is the grade in which the hindrances have been suppressed but absorption has not yet been entered; in absorption concentration (appanā-samādhi), the mind fully enters and remains unwavering upon the object. This unit speaks of concentration only in summary under the three trainings; the distinction between these grades and their methods of cultivation appears in the chapters on concentration.

⁴ Serenity (samatha) is the concentration indicated here under the heading of “mind”; insight (vipassanā) is what is indicated by the word “wisdom.” Their detailed development appears respectively in the chapters on concentration and wisdom.

⁵ Abandonment by substitution, abandonment by suppression, and abandonment by cutting off (tadaṅgappahāna, vikkhambhanappahāna, samucchedappahāna): the three kinds of abandoning the defilements, assigned here respectively to virtue, concentration, and wisdom.

⁶ Transgression, obsessive arising, and latent tendency (vītikkama, pariyuṭṭhāna, anusaya): three levels of the defilements—obsessive arising is their manifestly active level, and latent tendency their dormant level. Their respective antidotes are assigned here to virtue, concentration, and wisdom.

The vernacular of this unit is this edition’s own rendering-with-exposition from the Pāli original (tr. mine); see this unit’s apparatus for the base-text particulars.

§1 The Seven Questions and “What Is Virtue?” 〔CSCD §6〕

I. Exposition of Virtue

Discussion of the Nature of Virtue and So Forth

Although this Path of Purity has thus been taught through the gateways of virtue, concentration, and wisdom, which comprise many qualities, it has nevertheless been taught only in the most condensed form. Therefore it is said, “This is not enough to benefit everyone.” To show it in detail, a set of questions is first posed with reference to virtue:

What is virtue? In what sense is it virtue? What are its characteristic, function, manifestation, and proximate cause? What are the benefits of virtue? How many kinds of virtue are there? What is its defilement? What is its cleansing?

Here are the answers to them.

“What is virtue?”—It is volition and the other phenomena in someone who abstains from killing living beings and so forth, or who fulfills the prescribed duties. For this is said in the Paṭisambhidāmagga: “What is virtue? Volition is virtue; a mental factor is virtue; restraint is virtue; non-transgression is virtue.” Here, “volition (cetanā) is virtue” means the volition of someone who abstains from killing living beings and so forth, or who fulfills the prescribed duties. “A mental factor (cetasika) is virtue” means the abstinence of someone who abstains from killing living beings and so forth. Again, “volition is virtue” means the seven volitions belonging to the courses of action in someone abandoning killing living beings and so forth. “A mental factor is virtue” means the three phenomena of non-covetousness, non-ill will, and right view taught by such formulations as, “Having abandoned covetousness, he dwells with a mind free from covetousness.”

“Restraint is virtue”—here restraint (saṃvara) should be understood as fivefold: restraint by the code, restraint by mindfulness, restraint by knowledge, restraint by patience, and restraint by energy. Of these, “He is endowed, fully endowed, with this restraint by the code”—this is restraint by the code. “He guards the eye faculty and undertakes restraint of the eye faculty”—this is restraint by mindfulness.

Whatever streams there are in the world—(the Blessed One said: Ajita), mindfulness is their barrier; I call this the restraint of the streams: by wisdom they are dammed.

This is restraint by knowledge. The use of requisites is also included under this. What is presented in such formulations as “He endures cold and heat” is called restraint by patience; what is presented in such formulations as “He does not tolerate a sensual thought that has arisen” is called restraint by energy. Purification of livelihood is also included under this. Thus these five kinds of restraint, together with the abstinence of good persons fearful of evil when an occasion presents itself, should all be understood as virtue consisting in restraint.

“Non-transgression is virtue” means the bodily and verbal non-transgression of someone who has undertaken the precepts.

This, first, is the answer to the question “What is virtue?”

§2 In What Sense Is It Called “Virtue”? 〔CSCD §7〕

Among the remaining questions, “In what sense is it called virtue?”—it is virtue in the sense of “composing” (sīlana). What is this composing? It is either coordinating—the meaning is the non-scattering of bodily action and so forth through good virtue—or upholding—the meaning is serving as a supporting foundation because it grounds wholesome phenomena. Those versed in the characteristics of language recognize precisely these two meanings here. Others also explain the meaning here in such ways as “the meaning of virtue is the meaning of head” and “the meaning of virtue is the meaning of coolness.”

§3 Characteristic, Function, Manifestation, and Proximate Cause 〔CSCD §8〕

Now, as to “What are its characteristic, function, manifestation, and proximate cause?”—here:

Though divided in many ways, its characteristic is composing; just as visibility is the characteristic of material form, though divided in many ways.

For just as the visible quality is the characteristic of the visible-object base, though that base is divided in many ways as blue, yellow, and so forth—because, despite being divided as blue and so forth, it does not go beyond the state of being visible—so too virtue is divided in many ways as volition and so forth, yet the composing described as coordinating bodily action and so forth and as providing a foundation for wholesome phenomena is its very characteristic, because, despite being divided as volition and so forth, it does not go beyond the state of coordinating and upholding. Its characteristic being thus, its function is as follows:

The nature of destroying bad conduct, and likewise the quality of blamelessness, are called its “function” in the senses of task and accomplishment.

Thus virtue should be understood to have the function of destroying bad conduct in the sense of its task, and the function of blamelessness in the sense of its accomplishment. For among characteristic and the rest, the task itself or its accomplishment is called the “function.”

This virtue has cleanliness as its manifestation; and the wise have declared moral dread and shame⁴ to be its proximate cause.

This virtue has as its manifestation the cleanliness spoken of as “bodily cleanliness, verbal cleanliness, and mental cleanliness”—it manifests through the state of cleanliness and thus comes to be apprehended. The wise have declared shame and moral dread to be its proximate cause—that is, its immediate cause. For when shame and moral dread are present, virtue both arises and remains; when they are absent, it neither arises nor remains.

The characteristic, function, manifestation, and proximate cause of virtue should be understood in this way.

§4 The Benefits of Virtue 〔CSCD §9〕

Discussion of the Benefits of Virtue

“What are the benefits of virtue?”—its benefit is the acquisition of many qualities beginning with non-remorse. For this is said: “Ānanda, wholesome virtues have non-remorse as their purpose and non-remorse as their benefit.”

It is also said: “Householders, there are these five benefits for a virtuous person through the fulfillment of virtue. What five? Here, householders, a virtuous person who has fulfilled virtue acquires a great mass of wealth owing to diligence—this is the first benefit for a virtuous person through the fulfillment of virtue. Furthermore, householders, a good reputation spreads abroad for a virtuous person who has fulfilled virtue—this is the second benefit for a virtuous person through the fulfillment of virtue. Furthermore, householders, whatever assembly a virtuous person who has fulfilled virtue approaches—whether an assembly of khattiyas, brahmins, householders, or ascetics—he approaches it confident and unembarrassed—this is the third benefit for a virtuous person through the fulfillment of virtue. Furthermore, householders, a virtuous person who has fulfilled virtue dies unconfused—this is the fourth benefit for a virtuous person through the fulfillment of virtue. Furthermore, householders, with the breakup of the body, after death, a virtuous person who has fulfilled virtue is reborn in a good destination, in a heavenly world—this is the fifth benefit for a virtuous person through the fulfillment of virtue.”

Again, by such formulations as, “Bhikkhus, should a bhikkhu wish, ‘May I be dear, pleasing, respected, and esteemed by my companions in the holy life,’ let him completely fulfill the virtues,” many benefits of virtue are stated, beginning with being dear and pleasing and ending in the destruction of the influxes. Thus virtue has the benefit of many qualities beginning with non-remorse. Moreover:

In the Dispensation, without it good persons have no footing— who could state the limit of the benefits of virtue?

Neither the Gaṅgā nor the Yamunā, the Sarabhū or the Sarasvatī, nor the downward-flowing Aciravatī, nor even the great river Mahī—

none can wash away the stain of living beings here; but the water of virtue indeed washes away the stain of beings.

Neither rain-laden winds nor yellow sandalwood, neither garlands nor gems nor the budding rays of the moon—

none calms the burning of beings here; but this well-guarded, utterly cooling noble virtue calms it.

Where could there be a fragrance equal to the fragrance of virtue? It wafts equally with the wind and against the wind.

Where is another stairway to heaven equal to virtue, or another gate for entering the city of nibbāna?

Kings adorned with pearls and gems do not shine as brightly as strivers adorned with the adornment of virtue.

Virtue utterly destroys fear of self-reproach and the rest, and always gives the virtuous reputation and gladness.

It is the root of qualities and the slayer of the power of faults— thus should the opening discourse on the benefits of virtue be understood.

Notes

¹ Mindfulness (sati): the mental factor that retains its object without forgetting it; throughout this treatise it works together with knowledge, energy, and concentration. It belongs to a more specific category than the diffuse awareness often meant today by the expression “mindfulness”; it should be read according to the framework established by this treatise.

² Abstinence when an occasion presents itself (sampattavatthuto virati): a good person fearful of evil abstains when the situation is immediately present. The treatise lists this separately from the five restraints and includes it as virtue consisting in restraint.

³ The detailed exposition of restraint by the code occurs in this chapter’s unit “Virtue Consisting in Restraint by the Code”; reflection on the use of requisites occurs in “Virtue Dependent on Requisites”; and purification of livelihood occurs in “Virtue of Purification of Livelihood.” This part only names and subsumes them.

⁴ The working base contains both orders: the verse has “moral dread and shame,” naming the two separately with moral dread first, while the prose below has the compound “shame and moral dread,” with shame first. Each rendering here follows its respective form.

The vernacular of this unit is this edition’s own rendering-with-exposition from the Pāli original (tr. mine); see this unit’s apparatus for the base-text particulars.

§1 General Matrix of Classifications—from One Kind to Five 〔CSCD §10〕

Now, as to the question previously stated, “How many kinds of virtue are there?”—here is its answer.

First, all this virtue is of one kind by virtue of its own characteristic of composing (sīlana).

It is of two kinds as doing (cāritta) and keeping (vāritta). Likewise, it is of two kinds as virtue of higher conduct and virtue fundamental to the holy life; as abstinence and non-abstinence; as dependent and independent; as temporary and lifelong; as limited and unlimited; and as mundane and supramundane.

It is of three kinds as inferior, middling, and superior. Likewise, it is of three kinds as governed by self, governed by the world, and governed by Dhamma; as grasped, ungrasped, and tranquilized; as pure, impure, and doubtful; and as belonging to trainees, beyond-training adepts, and those who are neither trainees nor beyond-training adepts.

It is of four kinds as partaking of decline, partaking of stasis, partaking of distinction, and partaking of penetration. Likewise, it is of four kinds as virtue of bhikkhus, virtue of bhikkhunīs, virtue of those not fully admitted, and virtue of householders; as natural virtue, customary virtue, virtue of fixed nature, and virtue due to a prior cause; and as virtue consisting in restraint by the code, virtue consisting in restraint of the faculties, virtue of purification of livelihood, and virtue dependent on requisites.

It is of five kinds, beginning with virtue of limited purification. The Paṭisambhidāmagga likewise says: “There are five kinds of virtue—virtue of limited purification, virtue of unlimited purification, virtue of fulfilled purification, virtue of ungrasped purification, and virtue of tranquilized purification.”¹ Likewise, it is fivefold as abandoning, abstinence, volition, restraint, and non-transgression.

§2 The Seven Dyads 〔CSCD §11〕

Of these, the meaning in the single category should be understood by the method already stated.

In the twofold category, fulfilling a training rule laid down by the Blessed One with the words “This should be done” is doing; not doing what was prohibited with the words “This should not be done” is keeping. The derivation here is as follows: people act in it—that is, they proceed by completely fulfilling the virtues—thus it is called doing; what is prohibited, people protect and guard through it—thus it is called keeping. Of these, doing is accomplished through faith and energy; keeping is accomplished through faith. In this way virtue is twofold as doing and keeping.

In the second dyad, “higher conduct” means supreme conduct. Higher conduct itself is virtue of higher conduct (ābhisamācārika); alternatively, what is laid down with reference to higher conduct is virtue of higher conduct. This is a designation for the virtues other than the virtue whose eighth member is livelihood (ājīvaṭṭhamaka). It is “fundamental to the holy life of the path,” hence virtue fundamental to the holy life (ādibrahmacariyaka); this is a designation for the virtue whose eighth member is livelihood. For it forms the beginning of the path and ought to be purified in the preliminary stage itself. Therefore it is said: “But beforehand his bodily action, verbal action, and livelihood have already been thoroughly purified.” Alternatively, training rules called minor and very minor are virtue of higher conduct, while the rest are virtue fundamental to the holy life. Or again, what is included in the two Vibhaṅgas is virtue fundamental to the holy life, while what is included in the Khandhaka duties is virtue of higher conduct. Through the fulfillment of the latter, virtue fundamental to the holy life is fulfilled. Therefore it is also said: “Bhikkhus, that a bhikkhu might fulfill what is fundamental to the holy life without fulfilling the Dhamma of higher conduct—this possibility does not exist.” In this way virtue is twofold as virtue of higher conduct and virtue fundamental to the holy life.

In the third dyad, mere abstinence from killing living beings and so forth is virtue as abstinence; the remaining volition and so forth are virtue as non-abstinence. In this way virtue is twofold as abstinence and non-abstinence.

In the fourth dyad, there are two dependencies: dependence on craving and dependence on views. Of these, what is undertaken while aspiring to excellence of becoming in this way—“Through this virtue I shall become a deva, or some particular kind of deva”—is dependent on craving. What is undertaken with the purification-view “Purification comes through virtue” is dependent on views. What is supramundane, together with the mundane virtue that serves as its requisite, is independent. In this way virtue is twofold as dependent and independent.

In the fifth dyad, virtue undertaken for a fixed period is temporary; virtue undertaken for life and maintained accordingly is lifelong. In this way virtue is twofold as temporary and lifelong.

In the sixth dyad, virtue whose limit is seen in gain, fame, kin, limbs, or life is called limited; its opposite is unlimited. The Paṭisambhidāmagga likewise says: “What is that limited virtue? There is virtue limited by gain, virtue limited by fame, virtue limited by kin, virtue limited by limbs, and virtue limited by life. What is that virtue limited by gain? Here someone transgresses an undertaken training rule for the sake of gain, owing to gain, because of gain: this is virtue limited by gain.” The others should be expanded by the same method. In the answer on the unlimited it is also said: “What is that virtue not limited by gain? Here someone does not even arouse a mind to transgress an undertaken training rule for the sake of gain, owing to gain, because of gain; how then could he transgress? This is virtue not limited by gain.” The others should be expanded by the same method. In this way virtue is twofold as limited and unlimited.

In the seventh dyad, all virtue subject to influxes is mundane; virtue free of influxes is supramundane. Here mundane virtue brings a special kind of becoming and is also a requisite for escape from becoming. As it is said: “Discipline is for restraint; restraint is for non-remorse; non-remorse is for gladness; gladness is for joy; joy is for tranquility; tranquility is for pleasure; pleasure is for concentration; concentration is for knowledge and vision of things as they really are; knowledge and vision of things as they really are is for disenchantment; disenchantment is for dispassion; dispassion is for liberation; liberation is for knowledge and vision of liberation; knowledge and vision of liberation is for final nibbāna without grasping. Discourse is for this purpose, consultation is for this purpose, dependence is for this purpose, and lending an ear is for this purpose—namely, the liberation of the mind through non-grasping.” Supramundane virtue brings escape from becoming and also serves as the plane for reviewing knowledge. In this way virtue is twofold as mundane and supramundane.

§3 The Five Triads 〔CSCD §12〕

Among the triads, in the first triad, what is undertaken with inferior desire, mind, energy, or investigation (vīmaṃsā) is inferior; what is undertaken with middling desire and the rest is middling; what is undertaken with superior desire and the rest is superior. Or virtue undertaken from desire for fame is inferior; that undertaken from desire for the fruit of merit is middling; that undertaken in reliance on noble nature with the thought “This simply ought to be done” is superior. Or virtue defiled by self-praise and disparagement of others in this way—“I am endowed with virtue, but these other bhikkhus are immoral, of evil character”—is inferior; undefiled mundane virtue is middling; supramundane virtue is superior. Or virtue undertaken under the influence of craving for the sake of becoming and enjoyment is inferior; that undertaken for personal liberation is middling; virtue as a perfection (pāramitāsīla) undertaken for the liberation of all beings is superior. In this way virtue is threefold as inferior, middling, and superior.

In the second triad, what is undertaken by someone who esteems self and respects self, wishing to abandon what is unsuitable for himself, is governed by self. What is undertaken by someone who esteems the world and respects the world, wishing to avoid the world’s reproach, is governed by the world. What is undertaken by someone who esteems Dhamma and respects Dhamma, wishing to honor the greatness of Dhamma, is governed by Dhamma. In this way virtue is threefold as governed by self and the rest.

In the third triad, what was called “dependent” among the dyads is grasped because it is grasped by craving and views. What belongs to a good ordinary person and serves as a requisite of the path, and what belongs to trainees and is associated with the path, is ungrasped. What belongs to trainees and beyond-training adepts and is associated with fruition is tranquilized. In this way virtue is threefold as grasped and the rest.

In the fourth triad, virtue fulfilled without committing an offense, or after committing one and then performing the required rehabilitation, is pure. Virtue in someone who committed an offense and did not perform rehabilitation is impure. The virtue of someone who is uncertain about the matter, the offense, or the transgression is called doubtful virtue. Here a practitioner should purify impure virtue; when doubtful, the practitioner should avoid transgressing the matter and dispel the doubt—“thus it will be comfortable for him.” In this way virtue is threefold as pure and the rest.

In the fifth triad, virtue associated with the four noble paths and the three fruits of asceticism belongs to trainees. Virtue associated with the fruit of arahantship belongs to the beyond-training adept. The rest belongs to those who are neither trainees nor beyond-training adepts. In this way virtue is threefold as belonging to trainees and the rest.

In the Paṭisambhidāmagga, however, because the ordinary dispositions of different beings are also called “virtue” in the world³—as when people say, “This person is pleasant-natured, this person is painful-natured, this person is quarrelsome by nature, this person is fond of adornment”—in that sense it is said: “There are three kinds of virtue: wholesome virtue, unwholesome virtue, and indeterminate virtue,” and thus virtue is also called threefold as wholesome and so forth. But the unwholesome does not agree with even one of the characteristic and other aspects of virtue intended in the present sense, so it is not brought into this treatment. Its threefold division should therefore be understood only by the method stated above.

§4 The First Three Tetrads 〔CSCD §13〕

Among the tetrads, the first is as follows:

Whoever here associates with the immoral and does not associate with the virtuous, who, unknowing, sees no fault in transgressing a matter, abounds in wrong intentions and does not guard the faculties: virtue in such a person indeed comes to partake of decline.

But whoever here is self-satisfied with the fulfillment of virtue, who does not arouse the mind to the cultivation of a meditation subject,⁴ who is content with virtue alone and makes no further effort: that bhikkhu’s virtue comes to partake of stasis.

But whoever, fulfilled in virtue, strives for concentration: that bhikkhu’s virtue comes to partake of distinction.

Whoever, not content with virtue alone, applies himself to disenchantment: that bhikkhu’s virtue comes to partake of penetration.

In this way virtue is fourfold as partaking of decline and the rest.

The second tetrad: training rules laid down with reference to bhikkhus, together with those laid down for bhikkhunīs that bhikkhus must observe, constitute the virtue of bhikkhus. Training rules laid down with reference to bhikkhunīs, together with those laid down for bhikkhus that bhikkhunīs must observe, constitute the virtue of bhikkhunīs. The ten virtues of male and female novices constitute the virtue of those not fully admitted. Five training rules as the permanent virtue of male and female lay followers, ten when there is willingness, and eight as observance-day factors constitute the virtue of householders. In this way virtue is fourfold as the virtue of bhikkhus and the rest.

The third tetrad: the non-transgression of people in Uttarakuru is natural virtue. The respective boundaries and customs of families, regions, and religious communities are customary virtue. “Ānanda, this is a fixed law: when the Bodhisatta has descended into his mother’s womb, no mind associated with sensual pleasure arises in the Bodhisatta’s mother toward men”—the virtue of the Bodhisatta’s mother so described is virtue of fixed nature. The virtue of pure beings such as Mahākassapa, and the Bodhisatta’s virtue in his various births, is virtue due to a prior cause. In this way virtue is fourfold as natural virtue and the rest.

§5 Establishing the Fourfold Purification of Virtue 〔CSCD §13〕

The fourth tetrad: the virtue spoken of thus⁵ by the Blessed One—“Here a bhikkhu dwells restrained by restraint by the code, accomplished in good conduct and resort, sees danger even in the slightest faults, and trains by undertaking the training rules”—is called virtue consisting in restraint by the code (pātimokkhasaṃvara).⁶

What is spoken of in this way—“Having seen a visible form with the eye, he does not grasp its sign and does not grasp its features. Since, if he were to dwell with the eye faculty unrestrained, covetousness and grief, evil unwholesome phenomena, might invade him, he practices for its restraint, guards the eye faculty, and accomplishes restraint of the eye faculty. Having heard a sound with the ear … up to … having smelled an odor with the nose … up to … having tasted a flavor with the tongue … up to … having touched a tangible with the body … up to … having cognized a mental object with the mind, he does not grasp its sign … up to … accomplishes restraint of the mind faculty”—is virtue consisting in restraint of the faculties (indriyasaṃvara).

Abstinence from wrong livelihood—wrong livelihood that proceeds through transgression of the six training rules laid down for the sake of livelihood and through such evil phenomena as “scheming, talking, hinting, belittling, pursuing gain with gain”—is virtue of purification of livelihood (ājīvapārisuddhi).

The use of the four requisites, purified by reviewing and taught by such formulations as “Using wise reflection (paṭisaṅkhā yoniso), he uses a robe only for warding off cold,” is called virtue dependent on requisites (paccayasannissita).

Notes

¹ The individual exposition of the five virtues does not occur in this part but in this chapter’s unit “Five Kinds of Virtue”; this part only establishes their names.

² Virtue whose eighth member is livelihood (ājīvaṭṭhamaka): the expression means a set of virtues whose eighth item is livelihood. Here the treatise uses it only to delimit the preceding two categories and does not separately list its members.

³ “Virtue” (sīla) in this passage bears the ordinary-language meaning “disposition.” It has the same form as the virtue established by the treatise but a different referent; the four examples below are spoken in this sense.

⁴ The receiving and cultivation of a meditation subject are treated not in this chapter but in Chapter 3, “Taking a Meditation Subject.” This part uses it only to define the virtue partaking of stasis as “being content with virtue alone and making no further effort.”

⁵ At this point the working base has the short one-letter form of the word translated “thus,” while corresponding positions elsewhere in the same part have the full form. The translation follows the form used elsewhere in this part.

⁶ The four forms of purification of virtue are explained individually not here but in the next five units of this chapter—restraint by the code, restraint of the faculties, purification of livelihood, dependence on requisites, and the method of their fulfillment. This part only establishes their names and the scriptural formulations on which they rest.

The vernacular of this unit is this edition’s own rendering-with-exposition from the Pāli original (tr. mine); see this unit’s apparatus for the base-text particulars.

§1 Word-by-Word Explanation—“Restraint by the Code” 〔CSCD §14〕

Here follows a discussion of adjudication together with a word-by-word explanation from the beginning.

“Here” means in this Dispensation.

“Bhikkhu” means a son of good family who has gone forth through faith and has acquired this designation either because he sees danger in saṃsāra or because he wears torn cloth and so forth.

“Restrained by restraint by the code”—here the “code” (pātimokkha) means virtue as training rules. For it protects and guards the person who protects it and liberates, releases, that person from the sufferings of bad destinations and so forth; therefore it is called the code. Restraining is restraint (saṃvara), a name for bodily and verbal non-transgression. The code itself is restraint, hence “restraint by the code.” Restrained by that restraint by the code means “restrained by restraint by the code”—the meaning is entered into and endowed with it.

“Dwells” means conducts himself.

The meaning of “accomplished in good conduct and resort” and the rest should be understood according to the method given in the canonical text. For this is said—“accomplished in good conduct and resort”:

§2 The Canonical Explanation of Good Conduct and Resort 〔CSCD §14〕

There is good conduct (ācāra), and there is bad conduct.

Here, what is bad conduct? Bodily transgression, verbal transgression, and bodily-and-verbal transgression: this is called bad conduct. All immorality is also bad conduct. Here someone makes a living by giving bamboo, bowls, flowers, fruit, bathing articles, or tooth-sticks; by flattery, bean-soup behavior, fondling behavior, or serving as a messenger on foot; or by some other kind of wrong livelihood censured by the Buddha: this is called bad conduct.

Here, what is good conduct? Bodily non-transgression, verbal non-transgression, and bodily-and-verbal non-transgression: this is called good conduct. All restraint of virtue is also good conduct. Here someone does not make a living by giving bamboo, bowls, flowers, fruit, bathing articles, or tooth-sticks,² nor by flattery, bean-soup behavior, fondling behavior, or serving as a messenger on foot, nor by some other kind of wrong livelihood censured by the Buddha: this is called good conduct.

“Resort” (gocara)—there is resort, and there is improper resort.

Here, what is improper resort? Here someone has as his resort the homes of prostitutes, widows, grown unmarried women, paṇḍakas, or bhikkhunīs, or a drinking house. He dwells in unbecoming association with kings, royal ministers, other sectarians, and disciples of other sectarians. Or he frequents, associates with, and attends upon families that lack faith and confidence, are not like public wells, are abusive and insulting, and wish no welfare, benefit, comfort, or security for bhikkhus, bhikkhunīs, male lay followers, and female lay followers. This is called improper resort.

Here, what is resort? Here someone does not have the homes of prostitutes as his resort … up to … does not have a drinking house as his resort. He does not dwell in unbecoming association with kings … up to … disciples of other sectarians. Or he frequents, associates with, and attends upon families that have faith and confidence, are like public wells, shine with ochre robes, are swept to and fro by the wind of sages, and wish welfare … up to … security for bhikkhus … up to … female lay followers. This is called resort.

Thus he is possessed, fully possessed, entered, fully entered, furnished, accomplished, and endowed with this good conduct and this resort; hence he is called “accomplished in good conduct and resort.”

§3 Another Explanation of Good Conduct, Three Resorts, and the Slightest Faults 〔CSCD §14〕

Furthermore, good conduct and resort should be understood here by the following method as well. Bad conduct is twofold: bodily and verbal.

Here, what is bodily bad conduct? Here someone, even when he has gone among the Saṅgha, acts without respect: he stands or sits jostling elder bhikkhus; stands or sits in front of them; sits on a high seat or with his head covered; speaks while standing or waving his arms. When elder bhikkhus walk without sandals, he walks wearing sandals; when they walk on a lower walkway, he walks on a higher walkway; when they walk on the ground, he walks on a raised walkway. He stands or sits after pushing in among elder bhikkhus; obstructs newly ordained bhikkhus from a seat; puts wood into the bathhouse or closes its door without asking the elder bhikkhus. At the bathing place he enters the water jostling elder bhikkhus or enters ahead of them; bathes while jostling them or ahead of them; comes out while jostling them or ahead of them. When entering a household, he walks jostling elder bhikkhus or ahead of them, then turns aside and repeatedly cuts in ahead of them. He suddenly enters a family’s private and screened inner rooms where women and girls of the family sit, and he strokes a child’s head. This is called bodily bad conduct.

Here, what is verbal bad conduct? Here someone, even when he has gone among the Saṅgha, acts without respect and, without asking the elder bhikkhus, teaches Dhamma, answers a question, or recites the code. He speaks while standing or waving his arms. After entering a household, he says to a woman or girl: “So-and-so of such-and-such a clan, what is there? Is there porridge? Is there rice? Is there solid food? What shall we drink? What shall we chew? What shall we eat? Or what will you give me?” He chatters in this way. This is called verbal bad conduct.

Its good conduct should be understood by way of the opposite.

Again, a bhikkhu is respectful and deferential, accomplished in shame and moral dread, properly clothed in his lower and upper robes, and inspiring confidence in going forward and returning, looking ahead and aside, bending and stretching. He keeps his eyes lowered, is accomplished in deportment, guards the doors of the faculties, knows the proper measure in food, is devoted to wakefulness, and is endowed with mindfulness and clear comprehension. He has few wishes, is content, has aroused energy, performs duties of higher conduct carefully, and dwells with abundant esteem and respect. This is called good conduct. Good conduct should first be understood in this way.

Resort is threefold: resort as support (upanissayagocara), resort as guarding (ārakkhagocara), and resort as anchoring (upanibandhagocara).

Here, what is resort as support? It is a good friend endowed with the qualities of the ten topics of discourse³. Depending on this friend, a person hears what was unheard, purifies what was heard, crosses beyond doubt, straightens views, and brings confidence to the mind. Or, training under this friend, the person grows in faith, virtue, learning, generosity, and wisdom. This is called resort as support.

What is resort as guarding? Here a bhikkhu who has entered a household area and is walking along the street proceeds well restrained, with eyes lowered and seeing only a yoke’s length.⁴ He does not look at elephants, horses, chariots, foot soldiers, women, or men; does not look upward or downward; and does not go looking in the cardinal and intermediate directions. This is called resort as guarding.

What is resort as anchoring? It is the four establishments of mindfulness, where the mind is anchored. For the Blessed One said: “Bhikkhus, what is a bhikkhu’s resort, his own ancestral domain? It is the four establishments of mindfulness.”⁵ This is called resort as anchoring. Thus he is possessed … up to … endowed with this good conduct and this resort; hence he too is called “accomplished in good conduct and resort.”

“Sees danger even in the slightest faults” means that his nature is to see danger in faults of the slightest measure, including a Sekhiya offense committed unintentionally⁶ and the arising of an unwholesome mind.

“Trains by undertaking the training rules” means that whatever is to be trained in among the training rules, he undertakes it all correctly and trains in it.

Here the expression “restrained by restraint by the code” by itself presents virtue consisting in restraint by the code through a teaching whose basis is the person. Everything beginning with “accomplished in good conduct and resort” should be understood as spoken to show the kind of practice through which that virtue is fulfilled in someone who practices accordingly.

Notes

¹ Bean-soup behavior (muggasūpyatā), fondling behavior (pāribhaṭyatā), and flattery (cāṭukamyatā) are only named in this part. Their word-by-word explanations and associated similes occur in this chapter’s unit “Virtue of Purification of Livelihood.”

² In the corresponding passage on good conduct, the working base gives a separate negative for each item donated, unlike the joined form in the passage on bad conduct. This translation follows that separate enumeration item by item.

³ Qualities of the ten topics of discourse (dasakathāvatthuguṇa): this treatise names them here without enumerating them.

⁴ A yoke’s length (yugamatta): a yoke is a harnessing implement for a cart; the expression means that the gaze extends only about one yoke in front of the body.

⁵ The four establishments of mindfulness are not unfolded in this chapter.

⁶ Sekhiya (sekhiya): this treatise includes it here under “the slightest faults”; the character of these offenses is outside this chapter’s scope.

The vernacular of this unit is this edition’s own rendering-with-exposition from the Pāli original (tr. mine); see this unit’s apparatus for the base-text particulars.

§1 Word-by-Word Explanation and the Statement of the Ancients 〔CSCD §15〕

Next comes virtue consisting in restraint of the faculties, presented immediately after the preceding virtue by the formulation beginning “Having seen a visible form with the eye.” Here “he” means the bhikkhu established in virtue consisting in restraint by the code.¹

“Having seen a visible form with the eye” means having seen a visible form with eye-consciousness (cakkhuviññāṇa), which is capable of seeing forms and is conventionally called “eye” because the eye is its cause.

The Ancients (Porāṇā) say: “The eye does not see a visible form, because it has no mind; the mind does not see a visible form, because it has no eye. But when the door and object impinge, there is seeing by the mind whose physical support is the eye-sensitivity. This is what is called an inclusive statement (sasambhārakathā), like the expression ‘shoots with a bow’ and the like. Thus ‘having seen a visible form with eye-consciousness’ is the meaning here.”

§2 Not Grasping the Sign or Its Features, and the Story of an Elder 〔CSCD §15〕

“He does not grasp the sign” means that he does not grasp a female sign, a male sign, or a beauty sign and the like that serves as a basis for defilement; he stops at the mere seen.

“He does not grasp its features”: an appearance divided into hands, feet, smiles, laughter, speech, glances, and the like is conventionally called a “feature” (anubyañjana) because it makes the defilements manifest as they follow upon it one by one. He does not grasp such an appearance but grasps only what is actually there, like the Elder Mahātissa (Mahātissatthera) who lived at Cetiyapabbata.

It is said that the elder was coming from Cetiyapabbata to Anurādhapura for alms. A daughter-in-law of a good family had quarreled with her husband, adorned and ornamented herself like a divine maiden, and left Anurādhapura early in the morning to go to her relatives’ house. Seeing the elder on the road, her mind distorted, she laughed loudly. The elder looked to see “What is this?”, acquired the perception of foulness in the bones of her teeth, and attained arahantship. Therefore it is said:

Seeing the bones of her teeth, he recollected his former perception; standing there, the elder attained arahantship.

Her husband, following along the road, also saw the elder and asked, “Venerable sir, have you seen a woman?” The elder said to him:

I do not know whether a woman or a man passed from here; but a heap of bones is moving along this great road.

§3 Where Restraint Occurs and the Two Similes of a City Gate 〔CSCD §15〕

In the expression beginning “owing to which,” the meaning is this: owing to which cause, because of which non-restraint of the eye faculty, these phenomena beginning with covetousness would invade and pursue a person who dwells with the eye faculty unrestrained by the gate-panel of mindfulness (sati) and the eye door unclosed.

“He practices for its restraint” means that he practices in order to close that eye faculty with the gate-panel of mindfulness. The person who practices in this way is also said to “guard the eye faculty and accomplish restraint of the eye faculty.”

Here, in reality, there is neither restraint nor non-restraint in the eye faculty itself. For neither mindfulness nor forgetfulness arises in dependence on eye-sensitivity. But when a visible object comes into the eye’s range, the life-continuum³ arises twice and ceases; then the functional mind-element arises, performs the function of adverting, and ceases. Next, eye-consciousness performs the function of seeing. Next, the resultant mind-element performs the function of receiving. Next, the resultant rootless mind-consciousness-element performs the function of investigating. Next, the functional rootless mind-consciousness-element arises, performs the function of determining, and ceases. Immediately afterward, impulsion (javana)⁴ runs.

Here too, neither restraint nor non-restraint is present during the life-continuum, nor at any time during adverting and the rest. But at the moment of impulsion, if immorality, forgetfulness, ignorance, impatience, or laziness arises, there is non-restraint. When it arises in this way, it is called “non-restraint of the eye faculty.”

Why? Because when it is present, the door is unguarded, and so are the life-continuum and the process minds beginning with adverting. Like what? When a city’s four gates are unguarded, even though the doors of the inner houses, the gatehouses, inner rooms, and the rest are well guarded, all the goods inside the city remain unprotected and unwatched. For thieves enter through the city gate and do whatever they wish. In the same way, when immorality and the rest arise during impulsion and that non-restraint is present, the door is unguarded, as are the life-continuum and the process minds beginning with adverting.

Conversely, when virtue and the rest arise there, the door is guarded, as are the life-continuum and the process minds beginning with adverting. Like what? When the city gates are guarded, even though the inner house doors and the rest are not guarded, all the goods inside the city are well protected and watched. For when the city gates are closed, thieves have no way to enter. In the same way, when virtue and the rest arise during impulsion, the door is guarded, as are the life-continuum and the process minds beginning with adverting. Therefore, although restraint arises at the moment of impulsion, it is nevertheless called “restraint of the eye faculty.”

The same method applies to “having heard a sound with the ear” and the rest.

Thus, in brief, virtue consisting in restraint of the faculties should be understood to have the characteristic of avoiding the grasping, with respect to visible forms and the rest, of signs and so forth that are followed by defilements.

Notes

¹ The stock expression beginning “Having seen a visible form with the eye” explained in this part comes from the discourse cited earlier in this chapter’s unit on the classifications of virtue. “The bhikkhu established in virtue consisting in restraint by the code” is the person whose virtue was explained in the preceding unit.

² Eye-sensitivity (cakkhupasāda): the sensitive materiality in the eye capable of receiving visible form and serving as the physical support of eye-consciousness. The Ancients’ statement above takes it as the physical support of the mind.

³ Life-continuum (bhavaṅga): the position in which the mind abides before a cognitive process has begun. This part places it first in the cognitive process.

⁴ Impulsion (javana): the final position in the cognitive process. The treatise itself determines that restraint and non-restraint occur only here.

The vernacular of this unit is this edition’s own rendering-with-exposition from the Pāli original (tr. mine); see this unit’s apparatus for the base-text particulars.

§1 Six Training Rules Laid Down on Account of Livelihood 〔CSCD §16〕

Now, within the virtue consisting in purification of livelihood stated after virtue consisting in restraint of the faculties, “the six training rules laid down on account of livelihood” means the following six rules:

“On account of livelihood, with livelihood as the reason, a person of evil wishes, overcome by wishes, makes a false and groundless claim to a superhuman state: an offense entailing defeat (pārājika).”¹

“On account of livelihood, with livelihood as the reason, he acts as a go-between: an offense entailing a formal meeting of the Order (saṅghādisesa).”

“On account of livelihood, with livelihood as the reason, he says, ‘The bhikkhu living in your monastery is an arahant’: if the other person understands, an offense of grave wrongdoing (thullaccaya).”

“On account of livelihood, with livelihood as the reason, a bhikkhu who is not ill asks for fine food for himself and eats it: an offense requiring expiation (pācittiya).”

“On account of livelihood, with livelihood as the reason, a bhikkhunī who is not ill asks for fine food for herself and eats it: an offense requiring acknowledgement (pāṭidesanīya).”

“On account of livelihood, with livelihood as the reason, a person who is not ill asks for curry or rice for himself and eats it: an offense of wrongdoing (dukkaṭa).”

Thus were the six training rules laid down; “these six training rules” refers to them.

§2 The Canonical Text on the Five Wrong Practices 〔CSCD §16〕

In the passage beginning with “scheming,” this is the canonical text:

“Here, what is scheming (kuhanā)? In a person who depends upon gain, honor, and renown, who has evil wishes and is overcome by wishes, there is the feigning, posing, and studied posing of deportment by way of what is called using requisites, by way of indirect talk, or by way of deportment; there is scowling, the state of scowling, scheming, the conduct of a schemer, and the state of being schemed—this is called scheming.”

“Here, what is talking (lapanā)? In a person who depends upon gain, honor, and renown, who has evil wishes and is overcome by wishes, there is initiating talk with others, talking in reply, skillful talk, elevating talk, all-round elevating talk, binding talk, all-round binding talk, extolling talk, all-round extolling talk, ingratiating speech, flattery, bean-soup behavior, and fondling behavior—this is called talking.”

“Here, what is hinting (nemittikatā)? In a person who depends upon gain, honor, and renown, who has evil wishes and is overcome by wishes, there is making a sign to others, working a sign, giving an indication, working an indication, speaking indirectly, and speaking around the subject—this is called hinting.”

“Here, what is belittling (nippesikatā)? In a person who depends upon gain, honor, and renown, who has evil wishes and is overcome by wishes, there is abusing others, disparaging them, censuring them, reproaching them, thoroughly reproaching them, ridiculing them, thoroughly ridiculing them, denigrating them, thoroughly denigrating them, carrying tales of discredit, and the state of eating the flesh of another’s back—this is called belittling.”

“Here, what is pursuing gain with gain? In a person who depends upon gain, honor, and renown, who has evil wishes and is overcome by wishes, there is taking goods obtained here to someone there, or bringing goods obtained there to someone here. Whatever coveting, seeking, and repeated seeking of goods by means of goods there may be—whatever searching, looking for, and repeated looking—this is called pursuing gain with gain.”

§3 The Three Bases of Scheming and Their Three Citations 〔CSCD §17〕

The meaning of this passage from the canonical text should be understood as follows.

First, in the explanation of scheming, “a person who depends upon gain, honor, and renown” means one who relies on gain, honor, and the voice of fame—that is, one who longs for them. “A person of evil wishes” means a person who wants to display qualities that do not exist. “Overcome by wishes” means impaired by wishes—that is, harassed by them.

Next, because the Mahāniddesa presents three bases of scheming according to the use of requisites, indirect talk, and dependence on deportment, the passage begins with “by way of what is called using requisites” and the rest in order to show these three.

Here someone is invited by householders to accept robes and so forth. He actually wants those things, but, relying on evil wishes, refuses them. When he knows that the householders have acquired firm confidence in him, thinking, “Oh, the venerable is of few wishes and accepts nothing; how good it would be for us if he would accept just a little,” and they then offer fine robes and so forth by various means, he finally accepts while making it appear that he does so “only to embrace them with compassion.” The astonishing behavior that thereafter causes them even to bring offerings by the cartload should be understood as the basis of scheming called the use of requisites. The Mahāniddesa says:

“What is the basis of scheming called the use of requisites? Here householders invite a bhikkhu to accept robes, almsfood, lodging, and medicinal requisites for the sick. He is a person of evil wishes, overcome by wishes; though he wants robes … up to … requisites, he refuses a robe because he wants more. He refuses almsfood … up to … lodging. He refuses medicinal requisites for the sick. He says: ‘What use has an ascetic for an expensive robe? It is fitting for an ascetic to gather scraps from a charnel ground, a rubbish heap, or a shop, make them into an outer cloak, and wear it. What use has an ascetic for expensive almsfood? It is fitting for an ascetic to live by wandering for alms, by morsels of almsfood. What use has an ascetic for expensive lodging? It is fitting for an ascetic to dwell at the root of a tree or in the open. What use has an ascetic for expensive medicinal requisites for the sick? It is fitting for an ascetic to make medicine from fermented urine or a piece of myrobalan.’ Accordingly, he wears a coarse robe, consumes coarse almsfood, uses coarse lodging, and uses coarse medicinal requisites for the sick. The householders then think of him in this way: ‘This ascetic is of few wishes, content, secluded, unsociable, energetic, and an advocate of the ascetic practices.’ Again and again they invite him to accept robes … up to … requisites. He says: ‘Through the presence of three things, a faithful son of good family produces much merit. Through the presence of faith, a faithful son of good family produces much merit. Through the presence of the gift … up to … through the presence of those worthy of offerings, a faithful son of good family produces much merit.⁴ You possess this faith, the gift is available, and I am the recipient. If I do not accept, you will be excluded from merit. I have no need of this; nevertheless, I accept solely out of compassion for you.’ Accordingly, he accepts many robes. He accepts much almsfood … up to … medicinal requisites. Whatever such scowling, state of scowling, scheming, conduct of a schemer, and state of being schemed there may be—this is the basis of scheming called the use of requisites.”

Next, a person of evil wishes alone creates astonishment in various ways through words that suggest he has attained superhuman states. This should be understood as the basis of scheming called indirect talk. As it is said:

“What is the basis of scheming called indirect talk? Here a certain person is of evil wishes and overcome by wishes. Intending to be esteemed and thinking, ‘In this way people will esteem me,’ he speaks words that rely on noble qualities. He says, ‘The ascetic who wears a robe such as this is of great power.’ He says, ‘The ascetic who carries a bowl, a metal bowl, a water strainer, a straining cloth, a key, a belt, or sandals such as these is of great power.’ ‘The ascetic who has such a preceptor, teacher, fellow pupil of the same preceptor, fellow pupil of the same teacher, friend, acquaintance, intimate, or companion is of great power.’ He says, ‘The ascetic who lives in such a monastery, lean-to, mansion, roof terrace, cave, rock shelter, hut, storied dwelling, watchtower, round house, raised-column house,⁵ attendant’s hall, pavilion, or under such a tree is of great power.’ Or, so that people may say, ‘This ascetic is grave upon grave,⁶ scowling upon scowling, scheming upon scheming, talking upon talking, and winning esteem through his expression; he is an obtainer of such peaceful abidings and attainments,’ he speaks words that are deep, hidden, subtle, concealed, supramundane, and connected with emptiness. Whatever such scowling, state of scowling, scheming, conduct of a schemer, and state of being schemed there may be—this is the basis of scheming called indirect talk.”

Next, a person of evil wishes alone creates astonishment through deportment performed in order to be esteemed. This should be understood as the basis of scheming dependent on deportment. As it is said: “What is the basis of scheming called deportment?⁷ Here a certain person is of evil wishes and overcome by wishes. Intending to be esteemed and thinking, ‘In this way people will esteem me,’ he deliberately composes his walking, standing, sitting, and lying down. He walks deliberately, stands deliberately, sits deliberately, and lies down deliberately. He walks as though concentrated, stands as though concentrated, and sits and lies down as though concentrated; he also meditates while sitting where people can see him. Whatever such feigning, posing, and studied posing of deportment, scowling, state of scowling, scheming, conduct of a schemer, and state of being schemed there may be—this is called the basis of scheming called deportment.”

§4 Word-by-Word Explanation of Scheming 〔CSCD §17〕

Here, “by way of what is called the use of requisites” means by using requisites in the manner called “use of requisites,” or by way of an act bearing that designation. “By way of indirect talk” means by speech in the vicinity of the matter. “Or by way of deportment” means in the four postures. Among “feigning” and the rest, “feigning” is posing, or deliberate posing. “Posing” is the manner of composing oneself. “Studied posing” is contrivance, meaning the production of an attractive appearance. “Scowling” is knitting the face so as to present oneself as foremost in strenuous practice; it means contracting the face. A person habituated to knitting the face is a scowler; the condition of a scowler is the “state of scowling.” “Scheming” is creating astonishment. The action of a schemer is the “conduct of a schemer.” The condition of a person who has schemed is the “state of being schemed.”

§5 Word-by-Word Explanation of Talking 〔CSCD §17〕

In the explanation of talking, “initiating talk” is speaking at once on seeing people arrive at the monastery: “Good people, why have you come? Is it to invite the bhikkhus? If so, go on ahead; I shall take my bowl and come after you.” Or it is talk that puts oneself forward: “I am Tissa; the king has confidence in me, and such-and-such ministers have confidence in me.” Talk introduced with oneself in this way is “initiating talk.” “Talking in reply” is talking, after being asked, in the manner just described. “Skillful talk” is speaking cleverly while repeatedly leaving room, for fear that the householders may become weary. “Elevating talk” is speaking while raising people up with such expressions as “great householder,” “great shipowner,” and “great donor.” “All-round elevating talk” is raising people up in every way.

“Binding talk” is saying, “Lay followers, formerly you gave a gift of new grain at this season; why do you not give now?”, and continuing until they say, “Venerable sir, we shall give, but we have not yet had the opportunity,” and so on. It is binding layer upon layer; the meaning is wrapping around. Or, on seeing someone carrying sugarcane in his hand, he asks: “Lay follower, where did you get that?” “Venerable sir, from the sugarcane field.” “Is the sugarcane there sweet?” “Venerable sir, that can only be known by eating it.” “Lay follower, it is not proper to say, ‘Give sugarcane to the bhikkhu.’” Any such talk, in which the other person tries to unbind himself but the speaker continues to bind him, is “binding talk.” Binding again and again in every way is “all-round binding talk.”

“Extolling talk” is saying, “This family knows only me; if anything to be given appears here, they give it only to me.” Thus raising something up and illuminating it is “extolling talk”; the meaning is making it conspicuous. The story of Telakandarika should be told here. Repeatedly extolling from every side is “all-round extolling talk.”

“Ingratiating speech” is repeatedly saying only agreeable things, without regard for whether they accord with truth or with the Dhamma. “Flattery” is lowly behavior, repeatedly placing oneself in an inferior position. “Bean-soup behavior” is the state of resembling bean soup. When beans are being cooked, there is always a single bean that remains uncooked while all the others are cooked; in the same way, only a very little in a certain person’s speech is true and the rest is false—that person is called “bean soup.” His condition is “bean-soup behavior.” “Fondling behavior” is the condition of a fondler. Someone who, like a nurse, carries another family’s children in his lap or on his shoulder is “fondling,” in the sense of “carrying.” The action of such a fondler is the “work of fondling”; the condition of that work is “fondling behavior.”

§6 Hinting, Belittling, Pursuing Gain with Gain, and the Meaning of Purification of Livelihood 〔CSCD §17〕

In the explanation of hinting, a “sign” is any bodily or verbal action capable of producing in others the thought, “I should give a requisite.” “Working a sign” is working a sign on seeing people pass while carrying food to be eaten, by asking, “What food have you obtained?”, and so forth. An “indication” is talk connected with requisites. “Working an indication” occurs, for example, when he sees children tending calves and asks, “Are these milk-drinking calves or buttermilk-drinking calves?” They answer, “Venerable sir, they are milk-drinking calves,” and he says, “They cannot be milk-drinking calves; if they were, the bhikkhus too would receive milk.” In such ways he gets the children to tell their parents and causes them to give milk and so forth. “Speaking indirectly” is speaking by drawing close to the matter. Here the story of the bhikkhu who frequented a family should be told.

It is said that a bhikkhu who frequented a family wanted something to eat, so he entered a house and sat down. The mistress of the house saw him and did not want to give anything, so she said, “There is no rice,” and went to a neighbor’s house, pretending that she was going to fetch some. The bhikkhu entered the inner room to inspect it and saw sugarcane in the corner by the door, sugar in a vessel, a slice of salted fish in a basket, rice in a jar, and ghee in a pot; then he came out and sat down. The woman returned and said, “I could not get any rice.” The bhikkhu said, “Laywoman, I saw a sign beforehand and knew, ‘Today the alms round will not succeed.’” “Venerable sir, what was the sign?” “I saw a snake like the sugarcane set in the corner by the door. Thinking, ‘I shall strike it,’ I looked and saw a stone like the lump of sugar in the vessel. The snake, struck with the clod, raised its neck like the slice of salted fish in the basket. When it tried to bite the clod, it showed teeth like the rice in the jar. Then it grew angry, and froth mixed with venom flowed from its mouth like the ghee poured into the pot.” She thought, “This shaveling cannot be deceived,” gave him the sugarcane, cooked the rice, and gave everything together with the ghee, sugar, and fish. Speaking by thus drawing near to the matter should be understood as “speaking indirectly.” “Speaking around the subject” is circling around the thing wanted in order to obtain it.

In the explanation of belittling, “abusing” means abusing through the ten grounds for abuse. “Disparaging” is speaking after showing contempt. “Censuring” is imputing faults in such ways as calling someone “faithless” or “without confidence.” “Reproaching” is reproaching with words such as “Do not say that here.” Thoroughly reproaching in every respect, together with the matter and its reason, is “thorough reproaching.” Or, on seeing a person who does not give, saying, “Oh, donor!” is “reproaching”; saying, “Oh, great donor!” is reproaching him thoroughly. “Ridiculing” is mocking with such words as, “What kind of livelihood does this seed-eater have?” “Thoroughly ridiculing” is mocking more forcefully with such words as, “Why do you say this person gives nothing? He always gives everyone the word ‘nothing.’” “Denigrating” is causing him to fall into the name or disrepute of one who does not give. Denigrating him in every way is “thorough denigrating.” A “tale-bearer of discredit” spreads discredit from house to house, village to village, and country to country, thinking, “In this way he too will give me something out of fear of disrepute.” “The state of eating another’s back-flesh” is speaking pleasantly to his face and speaking discredit behind his back. Because for someone who does not dare look another in the face this resembles eating the back-flesh of those who have turned their faces away, it is called “the state of eating another’s back-flesh.” “This is called belittling”: because it scrapes and wipes away the qualities of others as a bamboo scraper scrapes away unguent, and because it crushes and pulverizes the qualities of others in pursuit of gain as spices are ground in search of fragrance, it is called “belittling.”

In the explanation of pursuing gain with gain, “pursuing” means seeking. “Obtained here” means obtained from this family. “There” means at a certain other family. “Coveting” is desire. “Seeking” is looking for. “Repeated seeking” is looking again and again. Here the story should be told of the bhikkhu who, from the beginning, gave each portion of almsfood he received to the children of families in the different places and finally obtained milk-rice and left. “Searching” and the rest are synonyms of “coveting” and the rest: thus “coveting” is searching, “seeking” is looking for, and “repeated seeking” is repeatedly looking. The correspondence should be understood in this way. This completes the meaning of scheming and the rest.

Now, in the phrase “and other evil practices of this kind,” the word “other” should be understood to include the many evil practices described in this way in the Brahmajāla Sutta: “Or there are some ascetics and brahmins who, after eating food given in faith, maintain their livelihood by such animal knowledge and wrong livelihood, namely, knowledge of bodily marks, omens, portents, dreams, bodily characteristics, mouse-gnawings, fire oblations, ladle oblations,” and so forth.

Thus, whatever wrong livelihood proceeds from transgressing these six training rules laid down on account of livelihood, and from evil practices such as scheming, talking, hinting, belittling, and pursuing gain with gain—abstinence from every kind of wrong livelihood is virtue consisting in purification of livelihood.⁸ Its word meaning is as follows: by depending on it they live, so it is “livelihood.” What is it? The effort of seeking requisites. “Purification” is the state of being purified. The purification of livelihood is “purification of livelihood.”

Notes

¹ The six names beginning with pārājika are all classes of offense established in the Vinaya. Here the treatise merely connects each with a single case; the taxonomy and constitutive conditions of those offenses do not lie within the scope of this part.

² “Talking in reply”: this expression and the second of the five wrong practices above, “talking,” represent the same word in the working base (lapanā). Here it is one of the thirteen items under talking and is rendered separately according to its position.

³ Bean-soup behavior (muggasūpyatā): literally, “the state of resembling bean soup.” The treatise itself gives the simile of a single bean that always remains uncooked and applies it to a person whose speech has only one part that is true. Its explanation occurs below in this part’s word-by-word explanation of talking.

⁴ The working base writes this sentence pattern separately three times, but in the last occurrence three words run together and the word boundary is lost. The present reading follows the pattern of the first two occurrences in the same passage.

⁵ Raised-column house: the working base has uddaṇḍa, whose meaning the treatise does not explain. The present reading follows its compound elements, “raised” and “pole or column.”

⁶ Grave upon grave: the working base has korajikakorajika, whose meaning the treatise does not explain. The present reading follows its occurrence among descriptions of demeanor such as “scowling upon scowling.”

⁷ The author labels this basis “dependent on deportment,” while the canonical passage cited beneath it says “called deportment.” The two expressions differ but refer to the same basis; each is translated here according to its wording.

⁸ The use of requisites and reflection at the time of using them are treated in the next part of this chapter, on virtue dependent on requisites.

The vernacular of this unit is this edition’s own rendering-with-exposition from the Pāli original (tr. mine); see this unit’s apparatus for the base-text particulars.

§1 “Wise Reflection” and Reflection on Robes 〔CSCD §18〕

Next comes virtue dependent on requisites, stated immediately after the preceding virtue. Here, “wise reflection” (paṭisaṅkhā yoniso) means reflecting and knowing by a method and a path; the meaning is “after reviewing.” And here the reflection expressed in the formula beginning “for warding off cold” should itself be understood as “wise reflection.”

Among the requisites, “robe” means any one of the lower robe and the rest. “Uses” means makes use of it, either wearing it on the lower body or putting it on the upper body. “Only for” (yāvadeva) is an expression that fixes the boundary of the purpose: a practitioner’s purpose in using a robe extends only this far—namely, “for warding off cold” and the rest—and goes no farther.

“Cold” means any cold arisen through disturbance of the internal elements or through a change in the weather outside. “For warding off” means for repelling it, that is, for dispelling it so that it does not produce an affliction in the body. For when the body is assailed by cold, the mind becomes distracted and cannot strive wisely; therefore the Blessed One permitted the use of a robe “for warding off cold.” The same method applies throughout.

Only this needs to be added here: “heat” means the scorching of fire, which should be understood to occur in forest fires and the like.

“The contact of gadflies, mosquitoes, wind, burning sun, and creeping things”: here “gadflies” are biting flies, also called blind flies. Mosquitoes are simply mosquitoes. Winds are divided into dusty, dustless, and so forth. “Burning sun” is the sun’s heat. “Creeping things” are any long creatures that move by crawling—snakes and the like; their contact is of two kinds, biting contact and touching contact. Even that contact cannot trouble a person sitting with a robe wrapped around him; therefore in such places he uses the robe to ward them off.

The expression “only for” appears here again in order to show the boundary of the invariable purpose. Covering the parts that shame is disturbed by exposing is an invariable purpose; the others arise only from time to time. Here “parts that shame is disturbed by exposing” means those private places on the body: whenever a certain limb is exposed, shame is disturbed and destroyed; because those places disturb shame, they are called “parts that shame is disturbed by exposing.” The robe is used “for covering those parts,” hence the expression “for covering the parts that shame is disturbed by exposing.” Another recitation of this phrase is also recorded.¹

§2 Reflection on Food, Part One—Not for Four Purposes, and the Maintenance of the Body 〔CSCD §18〕

“Almsfood” means any food. Any food is called almsfood because, through a bhikkhu’s wandering for alms, it falls into his bowl; alternatively, almsfood is the falling of morsels, meaning the convergence and collection of alms obtained here and there.

“Not for amusement” means not, like village children and others, for the sake of play—that is, not with play as the reason. “Not for intoxication” means not, like boxers and wrestlers, for the sake of intoxication—that is, not with intoxication by strength or intoxication by virility as the reason. “Not for adornment” means not, like women of the inner court, courtesans, and others, for adornment—that is, not with fullness of the limbs as the reason. “Not for beautification” means not, like actors and dancers, for beautification—that is, not with a clear complexion as the reason.

Here the phrase “not for amusement” is stated for abandoning the proximate support of delusion; “not for intoxication,” for abandoning the proximate support of hate; and “not for adornment, not for beautification,” for abandoning the proximate support of greed. Again, “not for amusement, not for intoxication” prevents the arising of fetters in oneself, while “not for adornment, not for beautification” also prevents the arising of fetters in another. It should be understood that these four phrases state the abandonment of unwise practice and indulgence in sensual pleasure.²

“Only for” has the meaning already stated. “This body” means this material body made of the four great elements. “For its continuance” means for the continuance of its succession. “For its maintenance” means so that its activity is not interrupted, or so that it may continue for a long time. Just as the owner of an old house supports it with a prop, and a cart driver greases an axle, so he uses almsfood for the continuance and maintenance of the body, not for amusement, intoxication, adornment, or beautification. Again, “continuance” is a designation for the life faculty; therefore “for the continuance and maintenance of this body” should also be understood to mean “for keeping the life faculty of this body in operation.”

“For ending harm”: “harm” means hunger, in the sense of affliction. He also uses almsfood to bring hunger to an end, as ointment is applied to a wound and as a remedy is used against heat, cold, and the like.

“For supporting the holy life” means for supporting both the holy life of the whole dispensation and the holy life of the path. For, relying on the bodily strength conditioned by the use of almsfood, he practices through devotion to the three trainings in order to cross the wilderness of becoming. Thus he uses food to support the holy life—as someone wishing to cross a wilderness uses the flesh of his child, as someone wishing to cross a river uses a raft, and as someone wishing to cross the ocean uses a ship.

§3 Reflection on Food, Part Two—Old and New Feeling, Survival, Blamelessness, and Abiding in Comfort 〔CSCD §18〕

“Thus I shall remove old feeling and not produce new feeling.” He also uses food with this reflection: “By using this almsfood, I shall remove the old feeling of hunger, and I shall not produce the new feeling conditioned by unlimited eating, like any of the brahmins called ‘Hand-Reacher,’ ‘Robe-Is-Enough,’ ‘Rolling-on-the-Spot,’ ‘Crow’s-Food-Eater,’ and ‘Eats-and-Vomits.’³” He uses it as a sick person uses medicine.

Alternatively, the feeling that arises now because of unsuitable and unlimited food, with old kamma as its condition, is called old feeling. By destroying its condition with suitable and measured food, he reflects, “I shall remove that old feeling.” The feeling that will arise in the future dependent on the accumulation of kamma from improper use performed now is called new feeling. By not generating its root through proper use, he reflects, “I shall not produce that new feeling.” The meaning here should also be seen in this way. It should be understood that this phrase shows the inclusion of proper use, the abandoning of devotion to self-mortification, and the non-abandoning of lawful pleasure.

“I shall have survival.” He also uses food with this reflection: because measured use leaves no peril that severs the life faculty or breaks the postures, this body, whose activity depends upon requisites, will have the survival called long continuance—like a chronically ill person who depends on his medicine.

“And I shall have blamelessness and abiding in comfort.” Blamelessness comes from avoiding improper seeking, acceptance, and use, while abiding in comfort comes from measured use; conversely, unsuitable and unlimited use conditions discontent, sloth, and yawning. Or there is blamelessness through the absence of such faults as censure by the wise, and abiding in comfort because suitable and measured food gives rise to bodily strength. Or there is blamelessness because avoiding eating as much as desired and filling the belly abandons the pleasure of lying down, reclining, and sleeping; and “I shall abide in comfort” because eating four or five morsels less than required makes the body fit for the four postures. He also uses food with this reflection. As it has been said:

Leaving four or five morsels uneaten, let him drink water; this is enough for a resolute bhikkhu to abide in comfort.

It should be understood that this phrase shows the gathering of purpose and the middle way.

§4 Reflection on Lodging and Medicine, and the Meaning of Dependence on Requisites 〔CSCD §18〕

“Lodging” comprises a place for lying down and a place for sitting. Wherever he lies, whether in a monastery, a lean-to, or elsewhere, that is a place for lying down; wherever he stays seated, that is a place for sitting. The two taken together are called lodging.

“For removing the danger of climate and for delight in seclusion”: climate, in the sense that it assails, is itself the danger of climate; thus the lodging is used for removing the danger of climate and for delight in seclusion. An unsuitable climate that produces bodily affliction and mental distraction should be removed by using lodging; the meaning is that lodging is used to remove it and for the happiness of solitude.

It is true that the removal of the danger of climate has already been stated with “for warding off cold” and the rest. But just as in the use of robes it was said that covering the parts that shame is disturbed by exposing is an invariable purpose while the others arise only at times, so here too this should be understood as a statement made with reference to the invariable removal of the danger of climate.

Alternatively, the climate described above is simply climate, while danger is of two kinds: manifest danger and concealed danger. Manifest danger consists of lions, tigers, and the like; concealed danger consists of greed, hate, and the like. A bhikkhu who knows and reviews a lodging in which those dangers do not produce affliction through lack of protection or through the sight of unsuitable visible objects and the like, and then uses it, should be understood as someone who “with wise reflection uses lodging for removing the danger of climate.”

“Medicinal requisites for the sick”: here a “condition” is so called in the sense of proceeding against an illness, meaning that it moves in opposition to the illness. It is a designation for anything suitable. “Medicine” is a physician’s work, so called because it is permitted by a physician. The condition for sickness is itself medicine, hence “medicine as a condition for the sick”; the meaning is any oil, honey, sugar, or other treatment suitable for a sick person and belonging to the physician’s work.

The word “equipment” (parikkhāra), in such passages as “well provided with the seven kinds of equipment of a city,” means an entourage; in passages such as “the chariot has virtue as its equipment, absorption as its axle, and energy as its wheels,” it means an ornament; and in passages such as “these supports for life that a renunciant should provide,” it means supplies. Here both the meanings “supplies” and “entourage” apply. For medicine as a condition for the sick is an entourage of life; because it protects life by giving no opening to an affliction that would destroy it, it is also supplies. Since it is a cause for life to continue long in this way, it is called equipment. Thus it is both medicine as a condition for the sick and equipment, hence “medicinal equipment for the sick”; that medicinal equipment for the sick is used. The meaning is oil, honey, sugar, and other supports for life that are suitable for a sick person and permitted by a physician.

“Arisen” means born, become, and come into being. “Born of affliction”: here “affliction” is disturbance of the elements and the leprosy, boils, sores, and the like produced by it. Because they arise from affliction, they are called “born of affliction.” “Feelings” are painful feelings, feelings that are unwholesome results; that is, those feelings born of affliction. “For the utmost freedom from affliction” means for the utmost freedom from pain, until all that suffering has been abandoned.

Thus, in brief, virtue dependent on requisites should be understood to have the characteristic of using requisites with wise reflection. Its word meaning is this: robes and the rest are called “requisites” because living beings who use them while depending and relying upon them move and continue; it is “dependent on requisites” because it depends upon those requisites.

Notes

¹ The working base gives this phrase as a single compound and itself records another edition’s recitation with the words divided (“for covering the parts that shame is disturbed by exposing”). The two forms differ only in case and word division; the present edition follows the working base.

² The abandoning of the two extremes—indulgence in sensual pleasure and devotion to self-mortification—and the practice of the middle way first appear in this chapter’s introductory unit. This part maps them phrase by phrase onto the reflection on food.

³ The working base lists these five names in a single compound without explaining their meanings. All five designate people who overeat: āharahatthaka (literally, “hand-reacher”), alaṃsāṭaka (“robe-is-enough”), tatravaṭṭaka (“rolling-on-the-spot”), kākamāsaka (“crow’s-food-eater”), and bhuttavamitaka (“eats-and-vomits”). The five English forms in the text are based on these literal meanings; the Pāli forms are retained here for verification.

⁴ In “medicine as a condition for the sick,” both “condition” and “requisite” represent the same word in the working base (paccaya): when used alone it is read as “requisite,” but within this compound it is read as “condition.”

The vernacular of this unit is this edition’s own rendering-with-exposition from the Pāli original (tr. mine); see this unit’s apparatus for the base-text particulars.

§1 Accomplishing Restraint by the Code through Faith—the Stories of Two Elders 〔CSCD §19〕

Thus, among these four kinds of virtue, restraint by the code should be accomplished through faith. For it is achieved by faith: the laying down of training rules lies beyond a disciple’s sphere. The example here is [the Blessed One’s] rejection of a request that training rules be laid down. Therefore, having undertaken through faith all the training rules as laid down, without remainder and without regard even for life, a bhikkhu should accomplish this restraint well. As it has been said:

As a pheasant guards her eggs, as a yak guards its tail, as someone guards a beloved child, as someone guards his single eye, so, guarding virtue in just this way, always be respectful and of thoroughly good conduct.

It has also been said: “Just so, Pahārāda, when I have laid down a training rule for my disciples, my disciples do not transgress it even for the sake of life.” In this connection, the stories of the elders bound by robbers in a wilderness should be understood.

It is said that in the Mahāvattani wilderness robbers bound an elder with black creepers and made him lie down. Remaining just as he had been laid, the elder developed insight for seven days, attained the fruit of non-returning, died there, and was reborn in the Brahmā world.

Another elder was bound with a putrid creeper on Tambapaṇṇidīpa and made to lie down. When a forest fire approached, he did not cut the creeper; remaining there, he established insight, became one whose two ends coincided,¹ and attained final nibbāna. The Elder Dīghabhāṇaka-Abhaya came with five hundred bhikkhus, saw him, cremated the elder’s body, and had a shrine built. Therefore another faithful son of good family too should act thus:

Purifying the code, he may indeed abandon life; but let him not break the restraint of virtue laid down by the Protector of the World.

§2 Accomplishing Restraint of the Faculties through Mindfulness—the Fire Simile and Two Paired Sets of Verses on Guarding and Not Guarding 〔CSCD §19〕

Just as restraint by the code is accomplished through faith, so restraint of the faculties should be accomplished through mindfulness. For it is achieved by mindfulness: when the faculties are steadied by mindfulness, covetousness and the rest cannot leak in. Therefore, recollecting the “Discourse on Burning”—“Bhikkhus, it would be better for the eye faculty to be pierced by a heated iron spike, burning, blazing, and glowing, than for a sign to be grasped through the features of visible forms cognizable by the eye,” and so forth—a bhikkhu should prevent, with mindfulness free from forgetfulness, the grasping of signs and the rest that allows consciousness occurring at the eye door and the other doors to be invaded by covetousness and the rest. In this way he should accomplish this restraint well.

For when restraint of the faculties is not accomplished in this way, even virtue consisting in restraint by the code does not endure or last long, like a crop without a surrounding fence of branches. It is struck down by the thieves of defilement, like a village with open gates struck down by plunderers of others. Lust pierces his mind as rain pierces a badly thatched house. As it has been said:

With visible forms, sounds, and then tastes, with odors and touches, guard the faculty; for when these doors are open and unguarded, they strike a person down as plunderers strike down a village.

As rain pierces a badly thatched house, so lust pierces an undeveloped mind.

Conversely, when restraint of the faculties is accomplished, virtue consisting in restraint by the code endures and lasts long, like a crop well surrounded by a fence of branches. It is not struck down by the thieves of defilement, like a village with well-closed gates not struck down by plunderers of others. Lust does not pierce his mind, as rain does not pierce a well-thatched house. As it has also been said:

With visible forms, sounds, and then tastes, with odors and touches, guard the faculty; for when these doors are closed and well restrained, they do not strike a person down as plunderers strike down a village.

As rain does not pierce a well-thatched house, so lust does not pierce a well-developed mind.

This, however, is a supremely rigorous teaching.

§3 Removing Arisen Lust through Attention to Foulness 〔CSCD §19〕

The mind changes swiftly. Therefore, arisen lust should be removed by attention to foulness,² and restraint of the faculties should be accomplished—as it was by the newly ordained Elder Vaṅgīsa.

It is said that when the elder was newly ordained, lust arose in him after he saw a woman while walking for alms. Then he said to the Elder Ānanda:

I burn with sensual lust; my mind is wholly aflame. Gotama, out of compassion, please tell me how to extinguish it.

The elder replied:

Through a distortion of perception, your mind is aflame; avoid the beauty-sign, the sign bound up with lust; develop the mind with foulness, one-pointed and well concentrated.

See formations as alien, as suffering, and not as self; extinguish great lust; do not burn again and again.

After removing lust, the elder continued on his alms round.

§4 The Stories of Two Elders Who Guarded Their Faculties 〔CSCD §19〕

Moreover, a bhikkhu who fulfills restraint of the faculties should be like the Elder Cittagutta, who dwelt at Kuraṇḍakamahāleṇa, the Great Cave of Kuraṇḍaka, and like the Elder Mahāmitta, who dwelt at Corakamahāvihāra, the Great Monastery of Coraka.

It is said that in the Great Cave of Kuraṇḍaka there was a delightful painting of the renunciation of the seven Buddhas. Many bhikkhus touring the lodgings saw the painting and said, “Venerable sir, this painting is delightful.” The elder said, “Friends, I have lived in this cave for more than sixty years and did not even know that there was a painting here; only today have I learned of it through those with eyes.” It is said that throughout the time the elder lived there, he had never opened his eyes and looked up at the cave. There was also a great nāga tree at the cave entrance, but the elder had never looked up at it either; each year he knew that it had flowered only by seeing the fallen stamens on the ground.

The king heard of the elder’s excellence and wished to pay homage to him. After sending for him three times without his coming, the king had the breasts of women with young children in that village bound and sealed, declaring, “Let the children receive no milk until the elder comes.” Out of compassion for the children, the elder went to Mahāgāma. The king heard and said, “Go, bring the elder in; I shall undertake the precepts.” He had the elder brought into the inner palace, paid homage, served him food, and said, “Venerable sir, there is no opportunity today; tomorrow I shall undertake the precepts.” He took the elder’s bowl, accompanied him a short distance, paid homage together with the queen, and returned. Whether the king paid homage or the queen paid homage, the elder merely said, “May the great king be happy.” Seven days passed in this way.

The bhikkhus said, “Venerable sir, why do you say only ‘May the great king be happy’ both when the king pays homage and when the queen pays homage?” The elder said, “Friends, I make no distinction that ‘this is the king’ or ‘this is the queen.’” After seven days the king thought, “The elder’s stay here is painful,” and released him. He returned to the Great Cave of Kuraṇḍaka and went up to the walking path at night. The deity dwelling in the nāga tree stood holding a torch. Then the elder’s meditation subject appeared with extraordinary purity. Delighted, he thought, “Why has my meditation subject appeared so clearly today?” Just after the middle watch, he attained arahantship, making the whole mountain resound. Therefore another son of good family who seeks his own welfare too should act thus:

Like a monkey in the forest, like a startled deer in the wild, and like a frightened fool, he should not be restless-eyed.

He should cast his eyes downward and look only a yoke’s length ahead; he should not come under the sway of a mind as restless as a forest monkey.

The Elder Mahāmitta’s mother developed a poisonous abscess; her daughter had also gone forth among the bhikkhunīs. The mother said to her daughter, “Lady, go to your brother, tell him of my illness, and bring back medicine.” She went and told the elder. The elder said, “I do not know how to gather roots and other ingredients and prepare medicine. But I shall tell you a medicine: ‘From the time I went forth, I have never broken the faculties with a mind accompanied by greed and looked upon the visible form of the opposite sex. By this statement of truth, may my mother be well.’ Go, say this and stroke the laywoman’s body.” She returned, reported the matter to her mother, and did as instructed. At that very moment the laywoman’s abscess dissolved and disappeared like a lump of foam. She rose and joyfully exclaimed, “If the Perfectly Enlightened One were still alive, why would he not stroke the head of a bhikkhu like my son with his net-patterned hand?” Therefore:

Another who calls himself a son of good family and goes forth in the teaching should, like the Elder Mitta, abide in the supreme restraint of the faculties.

§5 Accomplishing Purification of Livelihood through Energy—Requisites of Pure Origin and the Story of Sāriputta 〔CSCD §19〕

Just as restraint of the faculties is accomplished through mindfulness, so purification of livelihood should be accomplished through energy. For it is achieved by energy: the abandonment of wrong livelihood is possible for a person whose energy is rightly aroused. Therefore, abandoning improper and unlawful seeking, a bhikkhu should accomplish it through energy and proper forms of seeking such as the alms round—using only requisites of pure origin and avoiding those of impure origin as he would avoid a venomous snake.

Here, for a person who has not undertaken the ascetic practices, requisites that arise from the Order, from a group, or from laypeople who have gained confidence through his qualities such as teaching the Dhamma are called requisites of pure origin; those obtained through an alms round and the like are of supremely pure origin. For a person who has undertaken the ascetic practices, requisites obtained through the alms round and the like, and those obtained from people confident in his ascetic qualities in accordance with the limits of the ascetic practices, are called requisites of pure origin. Again, suppose he receives fermented myrobalan (hariṭakī) and the four sweet substances for the purpose of calming a certain illness, but thinks, “Let other companions in the holy life use the four sweet substances,” and consumes only a piece of myrobalan. His undertaking of the ascetic practices is then appropriate. Such a person is called “a bhikkhu of the supreme noble lineage.”

Among these requisites beginning with robes, for any bhikkhu purifying his livelihood, making a sign, giving an indication, speaking around the subject, and making an explicit request are not allowable with respect to robes and almsfood. But with respect to lodging, a person who has not undertaken the ascetic practices may make a sign, give an indication, and speak around the subject. Here a “sign” occurs when, while he is leveling ground and doing other work for a lodging, laypeople ask, “Venerable sir, what is being done? Who is having it done?”, and he replies, “No one,” or performs another sign of this kind. An “indication” is saying, “Lay followers, where do you live?” “Venerable sir, in a mansion.” “But, lay followers, a mansion is not suitable for bhikkhus,” or giving another indication of this kind. “Speaking around the subject” is saying, “The lodging of the Bhikkhu Saṅgha is cramped,” or making another indirect statement of this kind. With respect to medicine, all of these are allowable. But is medicine obtained in this way allowable for use after the illness has subsided, or is it not?

Here the Vinaya experts⁴ say, “The Blessed One has opened the door, so it is allowable.” The Suttanta experts say, “Although it does not constitute an offense, it corrupts livelihood, so it is not allowable.”

A person who does not even make the signs, indications, roundabout statements, and explicit requests permitted by the Blessed One, but relies solely on qualities such as fewness of wishes—even when death is imminent—and uses only requisites that arise otherwise than through indications and the rest, is called “a practitioner of supreme austerity.” The Elder Sāriputta was such a person.

It is said that on one occasion the venerable Sāriputta was cultivating seclusion and dwelling with the Elder Mahāmoggallāna in a certain forest. One day an illness of wind in the belly arose in him and produced extreme pain. In the evening the Elder Mahāmoggallāna went to attend on the venerable Sāriputta. Seeing the elder lying down and asking what had happened, he asked, “Friend, what used to make you comfortable?” The elder said, “Friend, when I was a householder, my mother gave me milk-rice made with unmixed milk and combined with ghee, honey, sugar, and the like. That made me comfortable.” The venerable Mahāmoggallāna said, “Very well, friend. If either you or I have merit, perhaps we shall obtain some tomorrow.”

The deity dwelling in a tree at the end of the walking path heard their conversation and thought, “Tomorrow I shall procure milk-rice for the venerable.” At once the deity went to the elder’s supporting family, possessed the eldest son’s body, and caused him distress. Then, when the relatives gathered to treat him, the deity said, “If tomorrow you prepare such-and-such milk-rice for the elder, I shall release him.” They said, “Even without your telling us, we regularly give alms to the elders.” The next day they prepared milk-rice of that kind.

Early in the morning the Elder Mahāmoggallāna came and said, “Friend, remain here until I return from walking for alms,” and entered the village. The people came to meet him, took the elder’s bowl, filled it with the milk-rice just described, and offered it. The elder showed that he was about to leave. They said, “Venerable sir, eat; we shall give you more.” After feeding the elder, they again gave him a full bowl. The elder returned and offered it, saying, “Come, friend Sāriputta, use this.” Seeing it, the elder thought, “This milk-rice is exceptionally agreeable; how did it arise?”, saw the root of its origin, and said, “Friend Moggallāna, this almsfood is unfit for use.” The venerable Mahāmoggallāna did not even give rise to the thought, “He will not use almsfood brought by someone like me.” At that single statement, he took the bowl by the rim and tipped it over to one side. As soon as the milk-rice reached the ground, the elder’s illness disappeared; it did not arise again for forty-five years.

Then Sāriputta said to Mahāmoggallāna, “Friend, milk-rice that arose dependent on a verbal request (vacīviññatti) is unfit for use even if the intestines were to come out and crawl on the ground.” And he uttered this exclamation:

If I had eaten the honeyed milk-rice produced through the force of a verbal request, my livelihood would have been blameworthy.

Even if my intestines came out and crawled outside, I would never break my livelihood, even while giving up my life.

I satisfy my own mind and avoid unlawful seeking; I shall not engage in unlawful seeking censured by the Buddha.

The story of the Elder Mahātissa, Mango Eater and Dweller at Ciragumba, should also be told here.⁵ In every respect it should be thus:

The discerning ascetic does not give rise even to a thought of unlawful seeking; having gone forth through faith, he should purify his livelihood.

§6 Accomplishing Dependence on Requisites through Wisdom—Four Kinds of Use, Four Purities, and the Story of a Novice 〔CSCD §19〕

Just as purification of livelihood is accomplished through energy, so virtue dependent on requisites should be accomplished through wisdom. For it is achieved by wisdom: a person with wisdom is capable of seeing the danger and benefit in requisites. Therefore, abandoning greed for requisites, a bhikkhu should accomplish this virtue by using requisites that have arisen lawfully and equitably after reviewing them with wisdom in the way already described.

Here reflection on requisites occurs at two times: at the time of acquisition and at the time of use. Robes and the rest that have been set aside after reflection in terms of elements or repulsiveness at the time of acquisition may subsequently be used without fault; so too when reflection occurs at the time of use. Here follows a decisive judgment:

There are four kinds of use: use as theft, use as debt, use as an inheritance, and use as an owner. The use of a person of bad virtue, even when he sits among the Order and uses something, is called use as theft. A virtuous person’s use without reflection is called use as debt. Therefore a robe should be reflected upon at every use, and almsfood at every morsel. If that is not possible, reflection should occur before the meal, after the meal, in the first watch, the middle watch, or the last watch. If dawn rises while he has not reflected, he stands in the position of use as debt. Lodging too should be reflected upon at every use. With medicine, mindfulness as condition at acceptance and at use is all that is required. Even so, the person who establishes mindfulness at acceptance but not at use commits an offense; the person who does not establish mindfulness at acceptance but does so at use commits no offense.

Purity is fourfold: purity through disclosure, purity through restraint, purity of seeking, and purity through reflection. Purity through disclosure is virtue consisting in restraint by the code. Because it is purified through disclosure, it is called purity through disclosure. Purity through restraint is virtue consisting in restraint of the faculties. Because it is purified solely through restraint by the mind’s determination, “I shall not do this again,” it is called purity through restraint. Purity of seeking is virtue consisting in purification of livelihood. Because a person who abandons unlawful seeking and obtains requisites lawfully and equitably has purified seeking, it is called purity of seeking. Purity through reflection is virtue dependent on requisites. Because it is purified through reflection of the kind described above, it is called purity through reflection. Therefore it was said, “The person who does not establish mindfulness at acceptance but does so at use commits no offense.”

The use of requisites by the seven trainees⁷ is called use as an inheritance. For they are sons of the Blessed One, so they use the requisites belonging to their father as his heirs. But do they use the Blessed One’s requisites, or do they use the requisites of householders? Though given by householders, the requisites belong to the Blessed One because he has permitted them. Thus it should be understood that they use the Blessed One’s requisites. The Dhammadāyāda-sutta (Discourse on Heirs in Dhamma) is the supporting text here.

The use of those whose taints are destroyed is called use as an owner. For they have passed beyond slavery to craving and use requisites as owners.

Among these kinds of use, use as an owner and use as an inheritance are allowable for everyone. Use as debt is not allowable; as for use as theft, there is nothing to discuss. The use of a virtuous person after reflection, being the opposite of use as debt, is either use free of debt or is included within use as an inheritance—for a virtuous person who possesses this training is himself reckoned a trainee. Since use as an owner is supreme among these kinds of use, a bhikkhu aspiring to it should accomplish virtue dependent on requisites by using requisites after reflection of the kind described. Acting thus, he performs what is to be done. As it has also been said:

Almsfood, dwelling, and a bed and seat, and water for washing dust from the outer robe— having heard the Dhamma taught by the Well-Gone One, a disciple of supreme wisdom should use them after discrimination.

Therefore, with almsfood and a bed and seat, and water for washing dust from the outer robe, a bhikkhu is unstained by these things, like a drop of water on a lotus leaf.

The chewable food, food, and drink received in due season through the aid of another: ever mindful, he should know the measure, as ointment is applied to a wound until it heals.

As a child’s flesh in a wilderness, as grease for an axle, so he takes food for maintenance, without infatuation.

Concerning the complete fulfillment of this virtue dependent on requisites, the story of the novice Saṅgharakkhita, the nephew, should be told—for he used requisites only after proper reflection. As he said:

As I was eating well-cooled rice, my preceptor said: “Novice, take care not to burn your tongue through lack of restraint.”

Hearing my preceptor’s words, I then gained a sense of urgency; sitting on that very seat, I attained arahantship.

My aspiration is fulfilled, like the moon on the fifteenth day; all taints have been destroyed, and now there is no renewed becoming.

Therefore another who aspires to the destruction of suffering should use requisites after wise reflection.

Thus virtue is fourfold as restraint by the code and the rest.

Notes

¹ One whose two ends coincided (samasīsī): a person for whom the destruction of the taints and the end of life occur simultaneously.

² The method of developing attention to foulness is treated in detail in Chapter 6.

³ Ascetic practices (dhutaṅga): a set of stringent observances concerning the use of robes, food, and lodging; they are treated in detail in Chapter 2.

⁴ Vinaya experts and Suttanta experts (vinayadharā・suttantikā): the treatise records the differing views of these two groups without deciding between them.

⁵ The treatise merely names this elder’s story here without recording it. Its outline appears in this chapter’s unit on the five kinds of virtue, where it is evidence for virtue of unlimited purification.

⁶ Dawn has risen: the time when day is about to break; in the Vinaya this marks the beginning of a day.

⁷ The seven trainees: the four paths and three lower fruits, the seven kinds of noble disciples prior to the fruit of arahantship; all are called trainees.

The vernacular of this unit is this edition’s own rendering-with-exposition from the Pāli original (tr. mine); see this unit’s apparatus for the base-text particulars.

§1 The Canonical Text of the First Pentad and Its First Two Members, Limited and Unlimited 〔CSCD §20〕

In the first pentad under the fivefold division, the meaning should be understood according to the virtue of those not fully admitted and so forth. It has been stated in the Paṭisambhidāmagga:

“What is virtue of limited purification? The virtue of those not fully admitted, whose training rules have a limit: this is virtue of limited purification. What is virtue of unlimited purification? The virtue of those fully admitted, whose training rules have no limit: this is virtue of unlimited purification. What is virtue of fulfilled purification? The virtue of good ordinary people—engaged in wholesome states, bringing fulfillment up to the limit of trainees, without regard for body or life, having relinquished life: this is virtue of fulfilled purification. What is virtue of ungrasped purification? The virtue of the seven trainees:¹ this is virtue of ungrasped purification. What is virtue of tranquilized purification? The virtue of the Tathāgata’s disciples whose taints are destroyed; of paccekabuddhas; and of Tathāgatas—arahants, perfectly enlightened ones: this is virtue of tranquilized purification.”

Here the virtue of those not fully admitted should be understood as virtue of limited purification (pariyantapārisuddhisīla) because, in terms of number, it has a limit. As for the virtue of those fully admitted:

　　Nine thousand koṭis, and eighty hundred koṭis,
　　fifty hundred thousand, and thirty-six more:
　　these disciplines of restraint were proclaimed by the Perfectly Enlightened One;
　　within the discipline of restraint, the trainings were indicated through the portal of abridgment.

Thus, though the virtue of those fully admitted also has a limit in terms of number, it is called virtue of unlimited purification (apariyantapārisuddhisīla) with reference to undertaking it without remainder and not seeing a limit in terms of gain, renown, relatives, limbs, or life. It is like the virtue of the Elder Mahātissa, the Mango Eater and Longtime Dweller in a Forest Thicket.² For that venerable elder:

　　For the sake of a noble limb, wealth should be relinquished; to protect life, a limb should be relinquished;
　　limbs, wealth, even life—all should be relinquished by a person recollecting the Dhamma.

He did not abandon this instruction recollecting a true person (sappurisānussati). Even when his life was in danger, he did not transgress a training rule; depending on that very virtue of unlimited purification, he attained arahantship while being carried on the back of a lay follower. As it is said:

　　Neither your father nor your mother, neither relative nor kin,
　　would perform such a service for the sake of a virtuous person.
　　Having aroused a sense of urgency and examined wisely,
　　while on that person’s back he attained arahantship.

§2 Fulfilled Purification—the Stories of Two Elders 〔CSCD §20〕

The virtue of good ordinary people, from the time of full admission onward, is supremely pure like a well-washed natural gem and like well-refined gold, free even of the stain of a single arising of mind, and serves solely as the proximate cause of arahantship. It is therefore called fulfilled purification (paripuṇṇapārisuddhi), like the virtue of the Elder Mahāsaṅgharakkhita and of his nephew, the Elder Saṅgharakkhita.

It is said that the Elder Mahāsaṅgharakkhita, who had passed sixty rains, lay on his deathbed. The Bhikkhu Saṅgha asked him about supramundane attainment. The elder said, “I have no supramundane state.” Then a young attendant bhikkhu said, “Venerable sir, people for twelve leagues around have gathered because they were told that you had attained final nibbāna. If you die as an ordinary person, the great multitude will feel remorse.” The elder said, “Friend, I did not establish insight because I thought, ‘I shall see the Blessed One Metteyya.’ In that case, sit me up and give me some space.” The attendant sat the elder up and went outside. At the very moment he left, the elder attained arahantship and gave a signal by snapping his fingers. The Order gathered and said, “Venerable sir, in producing a supramundane state at such a time of death, you have done something difficult.” The elder said, “Friends, this is not difficult. I shall tell you what is difficult: friends, from the time I went forth, I do not see a single deed performed through forgetfulness and ignorance.” His nephew likewise attained arahantship in his fiftieth year.³

If a person has learned little and is not well established in virtue, people censure him in both respects—in virtue and in learning. If a person has learned little but is well established in virtue, people praise him for virtue, and his learning succeeds. If a person has learned much but is not well established in virtue, people censure him for virtue, and his learning does not succeed. If a person has learned much and is well established in virtue, people praise him in both respects—in virtue and in learning. The Buddha’s disciple, learned, a bearer of Dhamma, and endowed with wisdom, is like an ingot of Jambu River gold: who is fit to disparage him? Even the devas praise him; even Brahmā praises him.

§3 Ungrasped Purification and Tranquilized Purification 〔CSCD §20〕

The virtue of trainees is ungrasped by views, while the virtue of ordinary people may be ungrasped by lust. This should be understood as virtue of ungrasped purification (aparāmaṭṭhapārisuddhi), like the virtue of the Elder Tissa, the householder’s son. Wishing to become established in arahantship by depending on virtue of that kind, the venerable elder said to his enemies:

　　Having broken both my feet, I shall convince you;
　　I am disgusted and ashamed to die with lust.

　　Having thought in this way and examined wisely,
　　when dawn arrived, I attained arahantship.

Another great elder was gravely ill. Unable even to take food with his own hand, he rolled about immersed in his own urine and excrement. Seeing him, a young bhikkhu said, “Oh, the formations of life are suffering.” The great elder said to him, “Friend, if I were to die now, I would attain heavenly prosperity; I have no doubt about that. But prosperity obtained by breaking this virtue would be like what is obtained after renouncing the training and returning to lay life.” Having said this and resolved, “I shall die together with virtue,” he lay there, contemplated that very illness, attained arahantship, and declared his attainment to the Bhikkhu Saṅgha with these verses:

　　Struck by a certain illness,
　　severely pained and afflicted by disease,
　　this body swiftly withers,
　　like a flower placed in dust beneath the sun.
　　The ignoble is reckoned noble, the impure regarded as pure;
　　filled with manifold corpses, it appears pure to a person who does not see.
　　Fie upon this ailing, putrid body—foul-smelling, impure, subject to disease;
　　people heedless and infatuated with it abandon the path to a fortunate rebirth.

The virtue of arahants and the rest is pure through the tranquilization of every fever and should be understood as virtue of tranquilized purification (paṭippassaddhipārisuddhi). Thus virtue is fivefold in terms of limited purification and the rest.

§4 The Second Pentad and the Conclusion of the Five Questions 〔CSCD §20〕

In the second pentad, the meaning should be understood in terms of abandoning the killing of living beings and so forth. It has also been stated in the Paṭisambhidāmagga:

“There are five virtues: abandoning the killing of living beings is virtue; abstinence is virtue; volition is virtue; restraint is virtue; non-transgression is virtue. The same applies to taking what is not given, sexual misconduct, false speech, divisive speech, harsh speech, idle chatter, covetousness, ill will, and wrong view. Through renunciation sensual desire is abandoned; through non-hate, ill will; through the perception of light, sloth and torpor; through non-distraction, agitation; through discrimination of states, doubt; through knowledge, ignorance; through gladness, discontent; through the first jhāna, the hindrances; through the second jhāna, applied and sustained thought; through the third jhāna, rapture; through the fourth jhāna, pleasure and pain; through the attainment of the base of infinite space, perceptions of form, resistance, and diversity; through the attainment of the base of infinite consciousness, perception of the base of infinite space; through the attainment of the base of nothingness, perception of the base of infinite consciousness; through the attainment of the base of neither-perception-nor-non-perception, perception of the base of nothingness; through contemplation of impermanence, perception of permanence; through contemplation of suffering, perception of pleasure; through contemplation of not-self, perception of self; through contemplation of disenchantment, delight; through contemplation of dispassion, lust; through contemplation of cessation, origination; through contemplation of relinquishment, grasping; through contemplation of destruction, perception of compactness; through contemplation of dissolution, accumulation; through contemplation of change, perception of lastingness; through contemplation of the signless, the sign; through contemplation of the desireless, desire; through contemplation of emptiness, insistence;⁴ through higher-wisdom insight into phenomena, insistence on grasping a core; through knowledge and vision according to reality, insistence born of delusion; through contemplation of danger, insistence born of attachment; through contemplation of reflection, non-reflection; through contemplation of turning away, insistence on bondage; through the path of stream-entry, defilements that share a common ground with views; through the path of once-returning, gross defilements; through the path of non-returning, defilements accompanied by the subtle; through the path of arahantship, all defilements.⁵ Such abandoning is virtue; abstinence, volition, restraint, and non-transgression are also virtue. Virtues of this kind lead to non-remorse of mind, gladness, rapture, tranquillity, joy, cultivation, development, much practice, ornament, equipment, entourage, fulfillment, complete disenchantment, dispassion, cessation, peace, direct knowledge, enlightenment, and nibbāna.”

Here, apart from the mere non-arising of the killing of living beings and the rest in the ways described, there is no distinct phenomenon called “abandoning.” But because each abandoning serves as upholding in the sense of providing a foundation for the corresponding wholesome state, and as coordinating by making the mind unshaken, it is called virtue according to the previously stated meaning of composing, which is designated as upholding and coordinating. The other four phenomena are stated with reference to the actual occurrence of mind as abstaining from one thing or another, as restraint in each case, as volition associated with both, and as the non-transgression of a person who does not transgress the corresponding training rule. Their meaning as virtue was explained earlier. Thus virtue is fivefold in terms of abandoning as virtue and the rest.

At this point the answers to the following questions are complete: What is virtue? In what sense is it virtue? What are its characteristic, function, manifestation, and proximate cause? What are the benefits of virtue? How many kinds of virtue are there?

Notes

¹ The seven trainees: the seven persons who have attained the four paths and first three fruits. Their training is not complete, so they are called trainees. This part gives only their number, not the individual classes.

² This elder’s story is merely named, without being recorded, in this chapter’s unit on the method of accomplishing the fourfold purification of virtue. The present part records its outline, so the two places can be checked against each other.

³ The working base says “fifty” here; understood in terms of rains, it means fifty rains since full admission, the same method of reckoning as “past sixty rains” in the preceding sentence about the elder.

⁴ Insistence (abhinivesa): deeply fixing upon an object as “precisely this” and not letting go. The passage lists five instances in succession, each paired with the contemplation that counters it—contemplation of emptiness, higher-wisdom insight into phenomena, knowledge and vision according to reality, contemplation of danger, and contemplation of turning away.

⁵ The unfolding of the jhānas, the four immaterial attainments, and the four paths lies outside this chapter: the jhānas and attainments occur in the chapters on concentration, and the four paths in the chapters on wisdom. This passage only names them while listing what each abandons.

The vernacular of this unit is this edition’s own rendering-with-exposition from the Pāli original (tr. mine); see this unit’s apparatus for the base-text particulars.

§1 Defilement—Broken, Torn, Spotted, Mottled, and Their Two Causes 〔CSCD §21〕

As for the questions stated earlier, “What is its defilement? What is [its] purification?”—on this point we say: the condition of virtue as broken and so forth is defilement (saṃkilesa), while its condition as unbroken and so forth is purification (vodāna). That condition of being broken and so forth is comprised under two things: breach for the sake of gain, renown, and so forth, and the seven kinds of sexual bond.

This is how it is. If, among the seven aggregates of offenses,¹ a person has broken a training rule at the beginning or the end, that person’s virtue is called “broken” (khaṇḍa), like a cloth damaged at the edge. If it is broken in the middle, that person’s [virtue] is called “torn” (chidda), like a cloth pierced at its center. If two or three are broken in succession, that person’s [virtue] is called “spotted” (sabala), like a cow whose body has another color because patches of a dissimilar hue, black, red, or the like, have appeared on its back or belly. If rules are broken at intervals, that person’s [virtue] is called “mottled” (kammāsa), like a cow variegated at intervals with spots of dissimilar color. This is how, first, breach for the sake of gain and so forth brings the condition of being broken and the rest.

§2 The Canonical Passage on the Seven Kinds of Sexual Bond 〔CSCD §21〕

The condition of being broken and the rest through the seven kinds of sexual bond is likewise to be understood. For the Blessed One said:

“Brahmin, here some ascetic or brahmin professes to live the holy life rightly. He does not indeed engage in the pair’s attainment² with a woman, yet he consents to a woman’s anointing, kneading, bathing, and massaging him. He relishes it, desires it, and finds gratification in it. This too, brahmin, is a breach, a tear, a spot, and a mottle in the holy life. Brahmin, this is called living the holy life impurely, bound by a sexual bond. He is not freed from birth; he is not freed from aging and death …pe… (as before, in full) … I say that he is not freed from suffering.”

“Furthermore, brahmin, here some ascetic or [brahmin] …pe… (as before, in full) … professes [to live the holy life rightly]. He does not indeed engage in the pair’s attainment with a woman, nor does he consent to a woman’s anointing …pe… (as before, in full) … Yet he laughs, plays, and dallies together with a woman. He relishes it …pe… (as before, in full) … I say that he is not freed from suffering.”

“Furthermore, brahmin, here some ascetic or [brahmin] …pe… (as before, in full) … He does not indeed engage in the pair’s attainment with a woman, nor does he consent to a woman’s anointing …pe… (as before, in full) … nor does he laugh, play, and dally together with a woman. Yet he gazes at and looks into a woman’s eyes with his own eyes. He relishes it …pe… (as before, in full) … I say that he is not freed from suffering.”

“Furthermore, brahmin, here some ascetic or [brahmin] …pe… (as before, in full) … He does not indeed [engage in the pair’s attainment] with a woman, nor does he [consent to] a woman’s [anointing], nor does he [laugh] together with a woman, nor does he [gaze] at a woman …pe… (as before, in full) … and look. Yet he listens to a woman’s voice—laughing, speaking, singing, or crying—beyond a wall or beyond a rampart. He relishes it …pe… (as before, in full) … I say that he is not freed from suffering.”

“Furthermore, brahmin, here some ascetic or [brahmin] …pe… (as before, in full) … He does not indeed [engage in the pair’s attainment] with a woman, nor does he [consent to] a woman’s [anointing] …pe… (as before, in full) … [nor listen to her] cry. Yet he recollects the former laughing, talking, and playing that he shared with a woman. He relishes it …pe… (as before, in full) … I say that he is not freed from suffering.”

“Furthermore, brahmin, here some ascetic or [brahmin] …pe… (as before, in full) … He does not indeed [engage in the pair’s attainment] with a woman …pe… (as before, in full) … nor does he [consent to] a woman’s [anointing] …pe… (as before, in full) … nor does he recollect the former laughing, talking, and playing that he shared with a woman. Yet he sees a householder or a householder’s son supplied and furnished with the five cords of sensual pleasure and enjoying them. He relishes it …pe… (as before, in full) … I say that he is not freed from suffering.”

“Furthermore, brahmin, here some ascetic or [brahmin] …pe… (as before, in full) … He does not indeed [engage in the pair’s attainment] with a woman …pe… (as before, in full) … nor does he see a householder or a householder’s son …pe… (as before, in full) … enjoying them. Yet he lives the holy life aspiring to a certain order of devas: ‘Through this virtue, observance, austerity, or holy life, I shall become a deva or a certain kind of deva.’ He relishes it, desires it, and finds gratification in it. This too, brahmin, is a breach, a tear, a spot, and a mottle in the holy life.”

The condition of being broken and the rest should thus be understood as comprised under breach for the sake of gain and so forth and the seven kinds of sexual bond.

§3 Purification—the Condition of Being Unbroken and the Eight Qualities 〔CSCD §21〕

The condition of being unbroken and the rest is comprised under the following: no breach of any training rule; making amends for any breach for which amends can be made; the absence of the seven kinds of sexual bond; the non-arising of evil states such as anger, resentment, contempt, domineering, envy, avarice, deceit, fraud, obstinacy, rivalry, conceit, overweening conceit, vanity, and negligence; and the arising of qualities such as fewness of wishes, contentment, and austerity.

Virtues that remain unbroken even for the sake of gain and so forth, or that were broken through the fault of negligence but have been amended, and that are not damaged by sexual bonds or by evil states such as anger and resentment, are all called unbroken, untorn, unspotted, and unmottled. Those very virtues are also liberating (bhujissa) because they create the state of freedom; praised by the wise because the wise praise them; ungrasped (aparāmaṭṭha)³ because craving and views do not grasp them; and leading to concentration⁴ because they lead to access concentration or absorption concentration. Their condition as unbroken and so forth should therefore be understood as purification.

This purification is accomplished in two ways: by seeing the danger in failure of virtue and by seeing the benefit (ānisaṃsa) in fulfillment of virtue. Here the danger in failure of virtue should be seen according to the method of such discourses as, “Bhikkhus, there are these five dangers for an unvirtuous person through failure of virtue.”

§4 Seeing the Danger in Broken Virtue—Its Faults, the Fire-Mass Simile, Six Further Similes, and Verses of Censure 〔CSCD §21〕

Furthermore, because of being unvirtuous, an unvirtuous person is displeasing to devas and human beings; cannot be admonished by companions in the holy life; suffers when unvirtuous conduct is censured; feels remorse when the virtuous are praised; and, owing to that unvirtuousness, is ugly like a hempen cloth. Because those who follow his example are brought to the suffering of a bad destination for a long time, he brings painful contact. Because he cannot make the gifts he receives yield great fruit for their donors, he is of little worth. He is hard to cleanse, like a cesspit accumulated over many years. Like a firebrand from a funeral pyre, he is cast out at both ends. Though claiming the state of a bhikkhu, he is no bhikkhu, like a donkey following a herd of cattle. He is constantly alarmed, like a person with enemies on every side. He is unfit to live in communion, like a corpse. Though endowed with such qualities as learning, he is unworthy of his companions’ veneration, like a cemetery fire to brahmins. He is incapable of attaining distinction, like a blind person incapable of seeing forms. He has no hope in the true Dhamma, like an outcaste boy has none of kingship. Though imagining, “I am happy,” he is only suffering, for he shares the suffering stated in the Discourse on the Mass of Fire.

The minds of unvirtuous people are bound by relish for enjoyment of the five cords of sensual pleasure and for homage, honor, and the like. The Blessed One—he who directly saw the result of kamma in every aspect—spoke as follows to show the exceedingly bitter suffering that can, through that condition, produce torment in the heart and cause hot blood to gush forth even through mere recollection:

“Bhikkhus, do you see that great mass of fire, blazing, burning, and glowing?” “Yes, venerable sir.” “What do you think, bhikkhus? Which is better: to sit or lie embracing that great mass of fire, blazing, burning, and glowing, or to sit or lie embracing a khattiya maiden, a brahmin maiden, or a householder’s maiden, whose hands and feet are soft and tender?” “Venerable sir, it is better to embrace a khattiya maiden …pe… (as before, in full) … and lie down. Venerable sir, it is painful to embrace that great mass of fire …pe… (as before, in full) … and lie down.” “Bhikkhus, I tell you and make known to you: for that unvirtuous person of evil qualities, impure and suspect in conduct, concealing his deeds, no ascetic though claiming to be one, no celibate though claiming to be one, rotten within, leaking, and full of filth, it would be better to embrace that great mass of fire …pe… (as before, in full) … and lie down. Why is that? Because owing to that he might meet death or suffering equal to death, but owing to it he would not, at the breakup of the body after death, be reborn in deprivation, a bad destination, perdition, or hell.”

Thus, with the simile of the mass of fire, he showed the suffering caused by enjoying the five cords of sensual pleasure connected with women. In the same way [he said]:

“What do you think, bhikkhus? Which is better: that a strong man bind both shins with a stout horsehair rope and rub them, so that it cuts the outer skin, then the inner skin, then the flesh, then the sinews, then the bone, and having cut the bone reaches and remains at the marrow; or that a person accept the homage of eminent khattiyas, eminent brahmins, or eminent householders?”

“What do you think, bhikkhus? Which is better: that a strong man strike a person in the chest with a sharp, oil-polished knife, or that a person accept the joined-palms salutation of eminent khattiyas, eminent brahmins, or eminent householders?”

“What do you think, bhikkhus? Which is better: that a strong man wrap a person’s body in a red-hot iron sheet, blazing, burning, and glowing, or that a person use a robe given in faith by eminent khattiyas, eminent brahmins, or eminent householders?”

“What do you think, bhikkhus? Which is better: that a strong man prise open a person’s mouth with a red-hot iron stake, blazing, burning, and glowing, and place in it a red-hot iron ball, blazing, burning, and glowing, which burns his lips, mouth, tongue, throat, and stomach, carries away his intestines and mesentery, and passes out below; or that a person consume alms food given in faith by eminent khattiyas, eminent brahmins, or eminent householders?”

“What do you think, bhikkhus? Which is better: that a strong man seize a person by the head or shoulders and force him to sit or lie on a red-hot iron bed or iron chair, blazing, burning, and glowing, or that a person use a bed and chair given in faith by eminent khattiyas, eminent brahmins, or eminent householders?”

“What do you think, bhikkhus? Which is better: that a strong man seize a person feet upward and head downward and throw him into a red-hot iron cauldron, blazing, burning, and glowing, where, boiling in a swirl of froth, he goes now upward, now downward, and now across; or that a person use a lodging given in faith by eminent khattiyas, eminent brahmins, or eminent householders?”

With these similes of the horsehair rope, sharp knife, iron sheet, iron ball, iron bed, iron chair, and iron cauldron, he showed the suffering caused by accepting or using homage, joined-palms salutation, robes, alms food, beds and chairs, and lodgings. Therefore:

　　Its bitter fruit brings suffering worse than the pain of embracing a mass of fire;
　　what happiness could belong to a person of broken virtue who does not relinquish sensual pleasure?

　　What happiness could a person whose virtue has failed find in accepting homage?
　　He partakes of suffering worse than the pain of being rubbed with a stout horsehair rope.

　　What happiness could an unvirtuous person find in accepting the faithful’s joined-palms salutation?
　　That is the cause for his suffering pain more excessive than a sharp knife’s stroke.

　　What happiness could an unrestrained person find in using a robe?
　　Because of it, he will long experience in hell the touch of a blazing iron sheet.

　　Even sweet alms food is like virulent poison to an unvirtuous person;
　　because of it, he must swallow blazing iron balls throughout the long night.

　　Use of a bed and chair, though deemed pleasant, is suffering for a person without virtue;
　　blazing iron beds and chairs will torment him for a long time.

　　What delight in dwelling could a person of broken virtue find in a lodging given in faith?
　　Because of it, he will dwell amid blazing iron cauldrons.

　　“Suspect in conduct, full of filth, leaking, evil,
　　and rotten within”—thus did the Teacher of the World censure him.

　　Shame on the unrestrained person’s life—he merely wears the appearance of the ascetic host;
　　no ascetic, damaged, he carries around a self he has dug up and ruined.

　　Those who love adornment avoid him here as they avoid excrement and a corpse;
　　what life could there be for the person whom the peaceful and virtuous avoid?

　　He is freed from no fear and has lost every happiness of attainment;
　　the gate of heaven is firmly closed to him, and he has mounted the path to deprivation.

　　Who else could be the object of compassionate people’s compassion
　　like a person of broken virtue? Such are the manifold faults of unvirtuousness.⁵

§5 Seeing the Benefits of Fulfilled Virtue and the Chapter’s Conclusion 〔CSCD §21〕

The danger in failure of virtue should be understood by reflection such as the foregoing; the benefits of fulfilled virtue should be understood by the opposite of what has been stated. Furthermore:

　　His manner of carrying bowl and robe inspires confidence;
　　for a person whose virtue is good and stainless, going forth bears fruit.

　　Fears beginning with self-reproach cannot enter the heart
　　of a bhikkhu whose virtue is pure, any more than darkness can enter the sun.

　　A bhikkhu, radiant through fulfilled virtue, shines in the ascetics’ grove
　　like the moon, endowed with radiance, shining in the sky.

　　Even the scent of the body of a virtuous bhikkhu brings gladness,
　　even to devas—what then need be said of the fragrance of virtue?

　　[The fragrance of virtue] surpasses the perfection of every kind of fragrance;
　　unobstructed, the fragrance of virtue wafts in every direction.

　　Even a small service done for the virtuous bears great fruit;
　　therefore a virtuous person becomes a recipient of offerings and honor.

　　Influxes belonging to the present life do not torment the virtuous;
　　a virtuous person digs up the root of sufferings in lives to come.

　　Human achievement and attainment among the devas—
　　neither is difficult for a person fulfilled in virtue who desires it.

　　But the attainment of nibbāna, which is utterly peaceful—
　　the mind of a person fulfilled in virtue pursues that alone.

　　Thus, with virtue as the root of every attainment, a wise person
　　should discern benefits distinguished in manifold ways.

For a person who discerns in this way becomes alarmed at failure of virtue, and the mind inclines toward fulfillment of virtue. Therefore, having seen the stated danger in failure of virtue and the benefit in fulfillment of virtue, virtue should be purified with every care.

Thus far, in the Visuddhimagga, taught through the portals of virtue, concentration, and wisdom in the verse “A wise person, established in virtue,” virtue has now been explained.

　　Thus, in the Visuddhimagga, made for the gladness of good people,

　　the first chapter, called “The Exposition of Virtue.”

Notes

¹ The seven aggregates of offenses: the seven classes of offenses established in the discipline. Their individual items and conditions do not fall within this chapter’s range; this chapter distinguishes the four patterns broken, torn, spotted, and mottled only according to whether training rules are broken at the beginning, middle, end, or at intervals.

² The pair’s attainment: a euphemism for sexual intercourse. The cited discourse presents this as the first of the seven kinds of sexual bond; the following six all remain sexually bound without reaching this point.

³ “Ungrasped” occupies two other places in this chapter—as a division in one of the threefold classifications and as an item among the five kinds of virtue. Here it is one of the eight qualities.

⁴ The unfolding of access concentration and absorption concentration is not in this chapter but in the chapters on concentration; this part only states what the highest virtue leads to.

⁵ In the working base this expression divides “unvirtuous” and “-ness” within the line, but its meaning is a single word, “unvirtuousness,” set against “a person of broken virtue” in the preceding line; it is read here as a single word.