清淨道論 義疏通講 · 冊2Visuddhimagga · Exposition Throughout · Vol. 2

Virtue Has Been Established; Now Tamp Down the Foundation: the Thirteen Practices Are Not a Higher Grade of Virtue but Aids That “Shake Off” Defilements—the Volition of Undertaking Is Their Essence, Breaking Down Greed Their Function

The Big Picture — Additional Practices for Purifying Virtue

Once Chapter 1 has finished its account of virtue, the Commentator does not turn directly to concentration. He first adds a set of optional supporting practices. The reason appears in the opening sentence: the virtue described in the preceding chapter is “purified by such qualities as fewness of wishes and contentment”—and fewness of wishes and contentment are not merely spoken but enacted. The thirteen ascetic practices are ways of enacting these qualities: their water washes the stains from virtue, establishes one in the three ancient noble lineages, and enables one to attain the fourth noble lineage, delight in development (§1). The Blessed One permitted them only for a certain kind of person—sons of good family who “have abandoned the food of the world, have no concern for body or life, and desire only to fulfill the way of conformity.” Whether to undertake them depends on one’s disposition; not undertaking them does not constitute a deficiency in virtue. This unit is the outline for the whole chapter: it first lists the thirteen practices and the ten modes of analysis (§1), then explains each name (§§2–4), defines their nature through characteristic, function, manifestation, and proximate cause (§5), and finally states before whom they are undertaken (§6). The fivefold treatment of each practice—undertaking, method, distinction, breach, and benefit—appears in the next four units. 〔Observation〕

§01 Why This Chapter Is Composed and the List of the Thirteen Practices → Vernacular §1

Three statements establish the whole chapter. Why it is taught—virtue is purified by such qualities as fewness of wishes; to fulfill those qualities one should undertake the ascetic practices; once the practices are fulfilled, virtue becomes exceedingly pure, observances are accomplished, one stands in the three noble lineages, and becomes capable of attaining the fourth. For whom it is taught—the Blessed One permitted it for those who abandon the food of the world, disregard body and life, and seek only the way of conformity. What is taught—the thirteen practices are listed one by one (refuse-rag wearing, use of the three robes, eating almsfood, seeking house by house, eating in one session, eating from one bowl, refusing later food, dwelling in the forest, at a tree root, in the open, in a charnel ground, using whatever bed is assigned, and remaining seated), and a verse lays down ten modes for the whole chapter: meaning, characteristic and the rest, undertaking and method, distinction, breach, benefit, the wholesome triad, the division beginning with “shaken,” and brief and detailed treatment (Vernacular §1). 〔Reading〕The verse is the chapter’s table of contents. The first six modes are treated practice by practice (this unit explains the first two, and the next four units treat the four from undertaking through benefit); the last three are treated in the miscellaneous discussion at the chapter’s end. Keep the ten modes in view and the thirteen practices will not dissolve into a heap of rules.

§02 Meanings—The Two Robe Practices and the First Two Food Practices → Vernacular §2

“By meaning” first explains four names. Refuse-rag—cloth lying on roadways, in charnel grounds, or on rubbish heaps is “resting upon dust” and like a heap of dust, or “like dust, moving toward what is repulsive.” One who wears it is a refuse-rag wearer, and that person’s practice is the refuse-rag-wearer’s practice; “practice” here means a cause—by undertaking it, one acquires the name. Three robes—being limited to the outer robe, upper robe, and lower robe. Almsfood—“food obtained by begging” consists in morsels given by others falling into the bowl; one who seeks it from house to house is an alms-food eater, or “one who falls for almsfood,” meaning one who goes for it. Successive—“giving” is a break, and “without a break” means not skipping houses; one who goes successively is a house-to-house seeker (Vernacular §2). 〔Reading〕The Commentator’s pattern for explaining a name has one form: a mode of conduct + “one whose virtue consists in this” + the designation for the person + that person’s practice. Once this form is remembered, the meanings of all thirteen names become transparent. The refuse-rag practice receives two derivations (rising above dust / like dust and repulsive); both are retained without choosing between them—the Commentator often gives meaning without selecting only one.

§03 Meanings—The Remaining Three Food Practices and the First Four Dwelling Practices → Vernacular §3

One-session eating—eating at one seat. Bowl-food eating—refusing a second vessel and keeping food in a single bowl, with the perception of bowl food while taking it. Refusing later food—“later” means food obtained after one has been satisfied, and “refuser” is an indeclinable expressing refusal; a later-food refuser is therefore “not a later-food eater,” one who through undertaking refuses leftover food. The Commentator also records a second account from the Commentary: it is the name of a bird that takes a fruit in its beak and, if the fruit falls, eats no other; the person is like that bird. Forest dwelling and tree-root dwelling—making residence in a forest or at the root of a tree one’s virtue; open-air dwelling and charnel-ground dwelling follow the same method (Vernacular §3). 〔Reading〕The later-food-refuser’s practice is especially revealing: one name receives a grammatical explanation (a word of refusal) and a bird simile (from the Commentary). The Commentator places the two side by side without deciding between them; this remains simply an explanation “by meaning.” In the numbered list this edition uses “charnel-ground dwelling,” while a separate occurrence of the word for a charnel ground retains the previously established rendering—one expression in two positions.

§04 Meanings—The Any-Bed-User’s Practice, the Sitter’s Practice, and the Name “Ascetic Practice” → Vernacular §4

Using any bed assigned—the lodging first designated by “This one falls to you” is “as prepared”; one who dwells there is an any-bed user. Sitting—refusing lying down and dwelling seated. Then comes the general name “ascetic practice,” explained in three ways: (1) the practices of one who shakes off defilements through each undertaking; (2) these are practices of the knowledge that acquires the name “shaken” by shaking off defilements; (3) because they shake off their opposites, they are both “shaken” and practices of the way (Vernacular §4). 〔Reading〕“Ascetic” here means “shaken”—the name refers not to mortification but to shaking off defilements. The three explanations center on different things: the first on the person, the second on knowledge, and the third on the path of practice. But all point to one fact: these practices are what they are entirely through “shaking off.” The miscellaneous discussion at the end of the chapter will use these three explanations to reject the claim that there are unwholesome ascetic practices.

§05 Analysis by Characteristic, Function, Manifestation, and Proximate Cause → Vernacular §5

The thirteen practices have only one essence: the volition of undertaking is their characteristic. The citation puts it with complete precision: the one undertaking is the person; that by which one undertakes is the phenomena of mind and mental factors; the volition of undertaking is the ascetic practice; the thing refused is the object. Their breaking down of greed is the function, freedom from greed the manifestation, and noble qualities such as fewness of wishes the proximate cause (Vernacular §5). 〔Reading〕This is the doctrinal core of the entire chapter. The ascetic practice is not a robe, a bowl, or the ground beneath a tree—those are “the objects refused.” It is the volition in the mind that undertakes the practice. That is why it is a mental phenomenon, why it can break greed, and why fewness of wishes can be its cause. The miscellaneous discussion’s statement that “the ascetic practice is one: the volition of undertaking” is rooted here. 〔Observation〕

§06 The Method of Undertaking—Before Whom They Are Undertaken → Vernacular §6

There is an order for undertaking them. While the Blessed One is alive, undertake them in his presence; after his final nibbāna, before a great disciple; failing that, before one whose taints are destroyed, a non-returner, a once-returner, a stream-enterer, a knower of three Piṭakas, two Piṭakas, one Piṭaka, one collection of recitation, or a teacher of the Commentaries; failing them, before one who maintains the ascetic practices. If not even such a person is present, sweep the shrine courtyard, sit squatting, and undertake them as though before the Rightly and Fully Enlightened One; undertaking them by oneself is also allowed. The text appends one item: the elder brother among two elder brothers at Mount Cetiya and his fewness of wishes concerning the ascetic practices. This is the common account (Vernacular §6). 〔Reading〕What is striking about this ordered list is its end. It descends from the Buddha through teachers of the Commentaries and maintainers of the practices, then ends with “one may also undertake them by oneself.” Undertaking an ascetic practice does not depend on someone else’s certification; it depends on that volition. This completes the circle with §5’s definition of its essence as the volition of undertaking.

For the General Reader

The ascetic practices are often read as a “list of mortifications,” but this unit says precisely otherwise. They are supporting practices for virtue, ways of enacting fewness of wishes and contentment, and the volition in the mind that says, “I refuse this object.” The thirteen names each have derivations, but the explanatory pattern has only one form. The ten modes of analysis are the table of contents for the whole chapter: the first six are applied practice by practice, and the last three form the general discussion. Remember three things: for whom they are established (those who disregard body and life and seek only the way), what their essence is (the volition of undertaking), and what they do (break down greed). The next four units unfold each practice through the same fivefold framework.

To read this unit in full: Vernacular §§1–6 give a complete paragraph-by-paragraph rendering of the reason for composing the chapter, the list of thirteen practices and verse of ten modes, the individual meanings of all thirteen, the three explanations of the general name “ascetic practice,” characteristic, function, manifestation, and proximate cause, and the order of undertaking together with the reference to the two elders at Mount Cetiya.

The Fivefold Framework Begins Here: One Sentence of Undertaking, One Set of Rules as Method, Three Grades of Distinction, One Moment of Breach, and One Table of Benefits—Refuse-Rag Is Armor; the Three Robes Are a Bird’s Wings

The Big Picture — The Beginning of the Fivefold Treatment of Each Practice

The general account completed the first two of the ten modes (meaning and characteristic and the rest). Beginning with this unit, the middle four are treated practice by practice: undertaking, method, distinction, breach, and benefit (the treatise first labels this fivefold framework under the refuse-rag-wearer’s practice, then repeats it once for each of the remaining twelve). The two robe-related practices come first: the refuse-rag-wearer’s practice (§§1–4) and the triple-robe-wearer’s practice (§§5–7). The skeleton of each is identical: one sentence of undertaking; a set of rules for practice; superior, medium, and mild distinctions; the moment at which the practice is breached; a table of benefits; and a close in verse. Once the reader has understood the five modes of the refuse-rag-wearer’s practice, the content changes for the other twelve but the framework does not. 〔Observation〕

§01 The Refuse-Rag-Wearer’s Practice—Undertaking and the List of Twenty-Three Kinds of Refuse-Rag → Vernacular §1

Undertaking requires only one statement: either “I refuse robes given by householders” or “I undertake the refuse-rag-wearer’s practice.” Once it is undertaken, twenty-three kinds of allowable cloth are named one by one—discarded in a charnel ground, discarded at a shop door, roadway cloth, rubbish-heap cloth, childbirth cloth, bathing cloth, bathing-place cloth, going-and-returning cloth, fire-scorched, cattle-chewed, termite-chewed, mouse-chewed, end-cut, edge-cut, carried away from a banner, shrine cloth, ascetic’s cloth, coronation cloth, made by supernormal power, dropped on a road, windblown, given by deities, and cast up by the sea. Take one, tear it apart, discard the weak material, keep and clean the sound material, make a robe, use it, and put aside the former householder-given robe (Vernacular §1). 〔Reading〕Under all thirteen practices the “undertaking” is only one sentence, but under the refuse-rag practice the Commentator expressly says, “This, first, is the undertaking here”; later practices abbreviate it with “it is undertaken by either statement.” The list of twenty-three may look minute, but it draws one boundary: what counts as “refuse-rag.” The next section defines each kind.

§02 Individual Explanations of the Twenty-Three Kinds → Vernacular §2

The names are explained one by one: the respective places where cloth discarded in a charnel ground and at a shop door has fallen; roadway cloth thrown from a window by merit-seekers; childbirth cloth discarded after wiping away the impurities of birth (the mother of the minister Tissa used a cloth worth one hundred, discarded it on the palmyra-fence road, and the bhikkhus took only its worn portion); bathing cloth discarded as “inauspicious” after an exorcistic bath; bathing-place and going-and-returning cloths discarded after bathing at a charnel ground; fire-scorched and cattle-chewed cloth, which are self-evident; banner cloth, which may be taken only after the people boarding a ship are out of sight or both armies have departed; shrine cloth offered by wrapping it around an anthill; ascetic’s cloth belonging to a bhikkhu; coronation cloth discarded at a king’s consecration; cloth made by supernormal power, namely the robe of a “Come, bhikkhu” bhikkhu; cloth dropped on the road, which requires waiting if an owner dropped it through forgetfulness; windblown cloth, which may be taken only when no owner can be seen; cloth given by deities, as with the Elder Anuruddha; and cloth cast ashore by the sea (Vernacular §2). 〔Reading〕The spirit of this section lies in several instances of “only then may it be taken”: wait for the people to leave a banner cloth, wait beside road cloth, and establish that windblown cloth has no visible owner. The refuse-rag-wearer’s practice is not permission to wear whatever one finds; it consistently avoids the suspicion of taking what has not been given. Fewness of wishes remains within the boundary of discipline.

§03 Distinguishing What Is Not Refuse-Rag and the Two Pure Forms and One Impure Form → Vernacular §3

The negative boundary comes first: cloth given “to the Saṅgha,” cloth obtained by begging, cloth distributed according to seniority, and a lodging’s robe are not refuse-rag; only cloth given without distribution qualifies. Then purity and impurity are distinguished. Donor at bhikkhu’s feet, bhikkhu to refuse-rag wearer’s hands—pure on one side. Donor to bhikkhu’s hands, bhikkhu at wearer’s feet—also pure on one side. Donor at the feet and bhikkhu likewise gives it at the feet—pure on both sides. Received in the hands and placed in the hands—“a robe that is not superior.” To know these distinctions and then use the robe is the method (Vernacular §3). 〔Reading〕The paired details “at the feet / in the hands” measure one thing: on which side, donor or recipient, a trace of “cloth given by a householder” remains in the intention. Only when both ends are at the feet has the appearance of a donated robe been wholly removed. The Commentator does not speak here of right and wrong, only of superior and not superior—a difference of quality, not of offense.

§04 The Three Grades, Breach, Benefits, and Three Verses of the Refuse-Rag-Wearer’s Practice → Vernacular §4

Distinction, three grades: taking only what was discarded in a charnel ground is superior; taking what people placed expecting someone gone forth to take it is medium; taking what was given at the feet is mild. Breach: the moment one accepts by one’s own choice something given by a householder. Benefits, one table: practice in accord with the dependence “going forth in dependence on refuse-rag”; establishment in the first noble lineage; no suffering of guarding; living without depending on others; no fear of thieves; no craving for use; a requisite appropriate to an ascetic; a requisite praised by the Blessed One as “few, easily obtained, and blameless”; inspiring confidence; fulfillment of the fruits of fewness of wishes and the rest; increase of the right practice; and leading later people to follow what they see. Three verses: the refuse-rag wearer shines in battle like a warrior in armor; when the Blessed One discarded Kāsi cloth and wore refuse-rag, who should not wear it; remembering one’s pledge, a bhikkhu should delight in refuse-rag that accords with the conduct of yoga (Vernacular §4). 〔Reading〕The three grades differ in the threshold for “taking”: charnel ground, deliberately placed, and given at the feet. As one descends, the donor’s intention becomes clearer. Two entries in the table of benefits matter most: “establishment in the first noble lineage” (returning to the four noble lineages in the general account) and “living without depending on others” (anticipating the “self-support” of the alms-food-eater’s practice). The benefits of the thirteen practices interlock and point toward the same absence of dependence.

§05 The Triple-Robe-Wearer’s Practice—Undertaking and the Method of Dyeing the Robes → Vernacular §5

Undertaking: “I refuse a fourth robe” or “I undertake the triple-robe-wearer’s practice.” Method: after obtaining robe material, one may set it aside without fault while ill, lacking a supervisor, or lacking a needle and other necessities. But from the time it has been dyed it may no longer be set aside—one who does so is called a “thief of the ascetic practice” (Vernacular §5). 〔Reading〕“Thief of the ascetic practice” is the Commentator’s judgment and occurs twice in this chapter (here and under the forest-dweller’s practice): bearing the name while failing to practice its reality. The line for the triple-robe practice falls at “dyeing.” Before dyeing it is robe material; after dyeing it is a robe. Once the robe exists and is retained, a fourth robe is already in hand.

§06 The Three Grades of the Triple-Robe-Wearer’s Practice → Vernacular §6

When dyeing, the superior practitioner first dyes the lower or upper robe, wears it, and dyes the other, then drapes that one and dyes the outer robe—the outer robe cannot be worn as a lower robe. In the forest, two may be washed and dyed together, but one must sit nearby so a dyed robe can be pulled over the body if someone appears. The medium practitioner may wear the dyeing hall’s “dyeing-time robe.” The mild practitioner may wear the robes of fellow bhikkhus and use their spread, but not carry it away, and may occasionally use their robes. Beyond the three robes, only a currently used shoulder cloth is permitted—one span wide and three cubits long (Vernacular §6). 〔Reading〕The three grades differ entirely in what one wears during the few hours of dyeing. The superior practitioner does not borrow a fourth robe even for those hours. The size limit on the shoulder cloth is the Commentator’s sole relaxation: it exists, but is too small to constitute a robe.

§07 Breach, Benefits, and Two Verses of the Triple-Robe-Wearer’s Practice → Vernacular §7

Breach: the moment a fourth robe is accepted. Benefits: contentment with robes that protect the body; traveling like a bird only with what one carries; few undertakings; avoidance of robe storage; lightness of living; abandonment of greed for extra robes; conduct of austerity through acting with moderation concerning allowable things; and fulfillment of the fruits of fewness of wishes and the rest. Two verses: one who knows the flavor of contentment’s happiness becomes a triple-robe wearer; as a bird travels with its wings, the supreme meditator travels with his robes, and one who wishes to wander in comfort should delight in limiting robes (Vernacular §7). 〔Reading〕“Like a bird with its wings” is this practice’s image. Wings are not luggage but part of the body; the three robes are the same. The image for refuse-rag is armor (battle), while the image for three robes is wings (travel): one counters fear and greed; the other counters work and storage.

For the General Reader

The discussion of two kinds of robe is really about how the word “enough” becomes conduct. The refuse-rag practice asks where a robe comes from—not from someone’s hands. The triple-robe practice asks how many robes there are—three, without borrowing a fourth even during the hours of dyeing. Every practice has superior, medium, and mild grades, so its threshold may be higher or lower; but the moment of breach is exact: a householder-given robe enters the hands, or a fourth robe enters the hands. The Commentator does not urge everyone to adopt the superior grade, but defines each grade. Remember the two images—armor and wings—and the first two entries in the table of benefits: accordance with the dependence of going forth, and living without depending on another.

To read this unit in full: Vernacular §§1–7 give a complete paragraph-by-paragraph rendering of the undertaking of the refuse-rag-wearer’s practice, the list and individual explanations of twenty-three kinds of refuse-rag, distinctions between refuse-rag and non-refuse-rag and between pure and impure forms, its three grades, breach, benefits, and three verses, together with the undertaking and dyeing method of the triple-robe-wearer’s practice, its three grades, breach, benefits, and two verses.

The Five Lines Concerning Food Are Each Drawn at One Place: Where It Comes From (Almsfood), How One Walks (House to House), How Many Times One Sits (One Session), How Many Vessels One Uses (One Bowl), and Whether One Eats After Satisfaction (Refusing Later Food)—Together They Form the Whole Picture of “Living Without Depending on Another”

The Big Picture — The Five Food-Related Practices

After the two robe practices come the five food practices: eating almsfood (§1), seeking house to house (§2), eating in one session (§3), eating from one bowl (§4), and refusing later food (§5). Each guards one line: the source of food (not accepting fourteen forms of extra gain such as meals for the Saṅgha), the route of alms seeking (house by house without skipping or choosing), the number of occasions on which food is accepted (one seat), the vessel used (one bowl), and what remains after satisfaction (not having more food made allowable and eating it). The fivefold framework is repeated under each practice. Here the treatise no longer states “this, first, is the undertaking,” but abbreviates it as “likewise undertaken through either statement.” Three story lines appear among them: the three bhikkhus and the Dhamma gathering (almsfood), the example of the Elder Mahākassapa (house to house), and the ruling of the Elder Cūḷābhaya, Knower of the Three Piṭakas (one session). The Commentator records these matters without arguing from them. 〔Observation〕

§01 The Alms-Food-Eater’s Practice → Vernacular §1

Undertaking: “I refuse extra gains.” Method: fourteen meals—a meal for the Saṅgha, designated, invited, by ticket, fortnightly, on an observance day, on the first day, for a guest, for a traveler, for a sick person, for a caregiver, for a monastery, regular, and by rotation—may not be accepted. But an offer not phrased as “Please accept a meal for the Saṅgha,” instead saying “May the Saṅgha eat in our house; please eat too,” may be accepted; a foodless Saṅgha ticket and food cooked in the dwelling are likewise allowable. Three grades: the superior practitioner accepts food brought from front and back, hands over the bowl at the bowl door, and accepts what is given at the place of withdrawal, but does not sit to accept food that day; the medium sits and accepts that day but does not accept tomorrow’s invitation; the mild accepts food for tomorrow and the next day. The latter two lack the happiness of dwelling at liberty; only the superior practitioner has it. In one story, a gathering on the noble lineages was held in a village. The superior practitioner invited two others to hear the Dhamma; one had been invited to sit, the other had accepted tomorrow’s meal, and both missed the teaching. Only the superior practitioner went early on alms round, attended, and received the flavor of the Dhamma. Breach: the moment an extra gain such as a Saṅgha meal is accepted. Benefits: practice consonant with the dependence “going forth in dependence on morsels of almsfood”; establishment in the second noble lineage; living without depending on another; a requisite praised by the Blessed One as “few, easily obtained, and blameless”; crushing laziness; purification of livelihood; fulfilling the training rules; not supporting another; acting for others’ benefit; abandoning conceit; checking craving for flavor; no offense under the two rules on group and successive meals; conformity to fewness of wishes; growth of right practice; and compassion for later people. Three verses: content with morsels, not depending on another, and having abandoned greed for food, one becomes a person of the four directions; removing laziness and purifying livelihood, the wise should not disparage the alms round; “even the deities envy one who supports himself and not another—if he does not depend on gain and renown” (Vernacular §1). 〔Reading〕The story of the three hearing Dhamma is the chapter’s most vivid stroke. The two who had “accepted invitations” could not leave; only the one who begged for himself each day was free to go. This makes “the happiness of dwelling at liberty” visible: not accepting an invitation means not being bound. “Not supporting another” in the benefits, paired with “supports himself and does not support another” in the third verse, means not seeking gains in order to maintain other people.

§02 The House-to-House-Seeker’s Practice → Vernacular §2

Undertaking: “I refuse a greedy course.” Method: stand at the village gate and observe dangers. Dangerous lanes and villages may be passed over; a house, lane, or village where nothing is received is regarded as not a village and left; a place where something is received may not be passed over. Enter early so an inconvenient place can be left; gifts made at the dwelling and food put into one’s bowl midway are allowed. A village reached at alms time while traveling may not be passed; one must seek alms there. If nothing or little is received, continue by the succession of villages. Three grades: the superior practitioner takes nothing brought from front, back, or the place of withdrawal, and only hands over the bowl at the bowl door—no one equals the Elder Mahākassapa in this practice, and even of him only the place of handing over the bowl is seen. The medium accepts all these and hands over the bowl, but does not sit waiting, thus conforming to the superior alms-food eater. The mild sits and waits that day. Breach: as soon as a greedy course arises. Benefits: being always new among families; being like the moon; abandoning stinginess toward families; impartial compassion; freedom from the dangers of intimacy with families; no delight in invitations; not asking for food to be brought; and conformity to fewness of wishes. Two verses: like the moon, always new among families, without stinginess and compassionate toward all, free from the dangers of intimacy—such is the house-to-house seeker; abandoning greed, looking down only a yoke’s length, one who wants liberty of movement on earth should seek house to house (Vernacular §2). 〔Reading〕“Like the moon” is this practice’s image: the moon is equally new to each household and clings to none. Its threshold of breach is lowest—it is breached not by an act but as soon as “a greedy course arises.” This practice guards the mind, not the feet. The grades likewise differ in whether one waits for others to bring food.

§03 The One-Session-Eater’s Practice → Vernacular §3

Undertaking: “I refuse eating at various seats.” Method: do not sit in the senior elder’s seat in the sitting hall; choose an appropriate seat while considering what will fall to one. If a teacher or preceptor arrives before the meal is finished, one may rise to perform the duty. The Elder Cūḷābhaya, Knower of the Three Piṭakas, says: preserve either the seat or the meal; since this person’s meal is unfinished, let him perform the duty but not eat again. Three grades: the superior practitioner takes nothing beyond the portion first touched, and even ghee offered because “the elder ate nothing” is accepted only as medicine, not food. The medium may take more while rice remains in the bowl—“one whose limit is the food.” The mild may eat until rising—either “one whose limit is the water” (before taking bowl-washing water) or “one whose limit is the seat” (before rising). Breach: the moment one eats at various seats. Benefits: little illness and affliction, lightness and strength, dwelling in comfort, no offense owing to food not being leftover, removal of craving for flavor, and conformity to fewness of wishes. Two verses: illnesses caused by food cannot overcome one who delights in eating at one session, who neither craves flavor nor neglects his work; the pure-minded meditator should delight in this cause of dwelling in comfort, approached by those who delight in purity and austerity (Vernacular §3). 〔Reading〕Here the grades are divided most finely: limit of the hand, food, water, and seat—four lines can be drawn within the same “one session.” The Elder Cūḷābhaya’s “preserve the seat or preserve the meal” is a Vinaya expert’s resolution of a dilemma; the Commentator records it without ruling on it.

§04 The Bowl-Food-Eater’s Practice → Vernacular §4

Undertaking: “I refuse a second vessel.” Method: when a side dish in a separate vessel is received with gruel, one may eat the side dish first or drink the gruel first. Rotten fish and the like would make the gruel repulsive, so the statement about first making it non-repulsive concerns side dishes of that kind; non-repulsive honey and sugar should be mixed in. Take an appropriate amount. Raw greens may be held in the hand, otherwise put in the bowl; because a second vessel is refused, not even a leaf may be used. Three grades: except with sugarcane, the superior practitioner may not spit out even refuse or break apart rice balls, fish, meat, or cake; the medium may break food with one hand—“one yoked to the hand”; the mild is “one yoked to the bowl” and may break with hand or teeth whatever fits in the bowl. Breach: accepting a second vessel. Benefits: removing craving for various flavors; abandoning excessive desire; seeing only the measure of food’s use; no fatigue from carrying plates; eating without distraction; and conformity to fewness of wishes. The verse says that, with various vessels and their distraction abandoned and eyes lowered, the good observer of vows digs out craving for flavor by the roots and carries contentment in visible form—who but a bowl-food eater uses food so (Vernacular §4). 〔Reading〕“Carrying contentment in visible form” is the memorable phrase: one bowl is the shape of contentment. The grades differ in whether food is broken apart—the less it is broken, the less one selects.

§05 The Later-Food-Refuser’s Practice → Vernacular §5

Undertaking: “I refuse leftover food.” Method: after satisfaction, do not have more food made allowable and eat it. Three grades: the superior practitioner eats no second morsel after swallowing the first (satisfaction does not occur with the first morsel itself, but swallowing it blocks the remainder); the medium eats only the portion at which satisfaction occurs; the mild eats until rising. Breach: having food made allowable after satisfaction and eating it. Benefits: remoteness from the offense of eating food that is not leftover; no gluttony; no storage; no second search; and conformity to fewness of wishes. Two verses: the wise person bears neither the fatigue of searching nor storage, and the later-food refuser abandons gluttony; one who wishes to shake off faults should cultivate this practice praised by the Well-Gone One and productive of growth in contentment and other qualities (Vernacular §5). 〔Reading〕“Satisfaction” is the Vinaya boundary: once its condition is reached, one has had “enough,” and further food must be made allowable. This practice declines even that procedure. The Vinaya is the outer boundary; an ascetic practice voluntarily draws the line inward.

For the General Reader

Read together, the five practices form a complete map of eating: no invitations (source), no choosing households (route), one sitting (number), one bowl (vessel), and stopping when enough has been received (remainder). Each has three grades, so one may draw the threshold at different places; but the moment of breach is always exact: accepting a Saṅgha meal, letting a greedy course arise, eating again after rising, taking a second vessel, or having food made allowable after satisfaction. Remember three stories: the three bhikkhus and the Dhamma gathering, Mahākassapa handing over his bowl, and Cūḷābhaya’s choice between preserving seat and meal. The Commentator records without evaluating, but all three say one thing: a person not bound by food is free to move.

To read this unit in full: Vernacular §§1–5 give a complete paragraph-by-paragraph rendering of undertaking, method, three grades, breach, benefits, and verses for each of the five practices of eating almsfood, seeking house to house, eating in one session, eating from one bowl, and refusing later food.

Five Lines Concerning Dwelling: How Far from a Village (Forest), Whether There Is Cover Overhead (Tree Root and Open Air), What Kind of Ground Lies Underfoot (Charnel Ground), and Dwelling Wherever One Is Assigned (Any Bed)—The Commentator Devotes the Most Space to Forest Dwelling Because “How Far” Is the Hardest Question to Measure

The Big Picture — The Five Lodging-Related Practices

After the five food practices come the five dwelling practices: forest dwelling (§§1–2), tree-root dwelling (§3), open-air dwelling (§4), charnel-ground dwelling (§5), and using any bed (§6). Of the five, the Commentator gives uniquely detailed measurements under the forest-dweller’s practice—the measures of village, village vicinity, and forest; the two accounts of the Vinaya and Suttanta reciters; the characteristics given by the Vinaya, Abhidhamma, and Suttanta methods; the two accounts of the Vinaya Commentaries and the Majjhima Commentary; and the standard of five hundred bows—because “how far from a village counts as forest” is the only matter that must be measured, while the other four require only looking overhead or underfoot. Moreover, the account of “breach” under three practices (tree root, open air, and charnel ground) records the divergent position of the Aṅguttara reciters, which the treatise reproduces without deciding. The recurring elements in the five benefit lists are the perception of impermanence (seeing leaves change at the tree root), mindfulness of death and the sign of foulness (charnel ground), the removal of sloth and torpor (open air), and freedom from fear and attachment to life (forest): one’s lodging leads directly to a meditation subject. 〔Observation〕

§01 The Forest-Dweller’s Practice—Undertaking and the Measures of Village, Village Vicinity, and Forest → Vernacular §1

Undertaking: “I refuse a lodging at the edge of a village.” The essence of the method is to leave behind a lodging at the edge of a village and cause the dawn sign to arise in the forest. Three measures are defined. A village may consist of one house or many, be enclosed or unenclosed, inhabited or uninhabited, and even a caravan site occupied for more than four months counts as one. The vicinity of a village: for an enclosed village with two boundary pillars, as at Anurādhapura, it reaches as far as a person of medium strength can throw a stone while standing at the inner pillar (Vinaya reciters: within the landing place of a stone thrown by young men with arms extended to display their strength; Suttanta reciters: a throw made by the standard for driving off crows). For an unenclosed village, the place where water thrown by a woman at the outermost house falls is the vicinity of that house; from there, one stone’s throw is the village and a second is its vicinity. The forest: the Vinaya method says all except village and village vicinity; the Abhidhamma method says all outside the boundary pillars; the Suttanta method says that a forest lodging is at least five hundred bows away—measured with a strung teacher’s bow from the boundary pillar of an enclosed village, or the first stone’s throw of an unenclosed village, to the lodging’s enclosure. When the lodging itself is unenclosed, the first sleeping place, dining hall, regular meeting place, Bodhi tree, or shrine serves as its boundary (the Vinaya Commentaries); or a vicinity is calculated for the lodging just as for a village, and the measure is taken between the stone’s-throw limits of the two (the Majjhima Commentary). If a nearby village cannot be reached directly because of mountains or rivers, the five hundred bows are measured along the customary route, even if it requires a boat. One who blocks a route to a nearby village in order to fulfill the practice is a thief of the ascetic practice. If a preceptor or teacher is ill and suitable provisions are unavailable in the forest, one should take him to the village edge and care for him, but leave early enough to cause dawn to arise in a place conforming to the practice. If the illness worsens at dawn, attend only to his needs and do not become one concerned solely with the purity of one’s ascetic practice (Vernacular §1). 〔Reading〕This is the chapter’s densest passage of disciplinary learning. Three measures are nested one inside another (house → village → vicinity → forest), alongside two reciter traditions, three textual methods, and two commentary methods. The Commentator’s stance throughout is to record them together: both Vinaya and Suttanta reciters, all three Vinaya, Abhidhamma, and Suttanta methods, and both commentarial accounts are cited; in the end he says only, “This is the measure here.” The final sentence is the most humane: an ill teacher must be served and may not be abandoned to keep one’s practice pure. That is the pejorative force of “one concerned solely with the purity of the ascetic practice.”

§02 The Three Grades, Breach, Benefits, and Four Verses of the Forest-Dweller’s Practice → Vernacular §2

Three grades: the superior practitioner always causes the dawn sign to arise in the forest; the medium may live at the village edge during the four rainy-season months; the mild may do so during the cold season as well. Breach: if one comes from the forest at an appointed time to hear the Dhamma at the village edge, dawn may arise without breach; if dawn arises on the return journey after hearing the Dhamma, there is likewise no breach. But if the speaker has risen and one thinks, “I will sleep a while and then go,” so that dawn arises, or one intentionally causes dawn to arise at the village edge, the practice is breached. Benefits: attending to the perception of forest, one attains concentration not yet attained and preserves concentration already attained; the Teacher is pleased (the Blessed One tells Nāgita, “For that reason I am pleased with that bhikkhu’s dwelling in the forest”); unsuitable forms and the like cannot disturb the mind; one is free from fear; abandons attachment to life; tastes the flavor of the happiness of seclusion; and accords with refuse-rag wearing and the other practices. Four verses: secluded, unmixed, and delighting in remote lodging, one gladdens the Protector through forest dwelling; the happiness of dwelling alone in the forest is not tasted even by deities together with Sakka; wearing refuse-rag as armor, entering the forest battlefield, and taking the other ascetic practices as weapons, one soon defeats Māra and his army; therefore the wise should delight in forest dwelling (Vernacular §2). 〔Reading〕The example of breach is distinctive: coming to hear the Dhamma and having dawn arise on the journey back do not breach the practice, for an ascetic practice does not conflict with hearing the Dhamma. Breach lies in the thought “I will sleep a while.” The third verse combines two of the chapter’s images into one battle picture: refuse-rag is armor, the forest a battlefield, and the remaining practices weapons. The thirteen form one set, not thirteen unrelated articles.

§03 The Tree-Root-Dweller’s Practice → Vernacular §3

Undertaking: “I refuse a covered place.” Method: avoid a tree between boundaries, a shrine tree, a resinous tree, a fruit tree, a bat-inhabited tree, a hollow tree, and a tree in the center of the lodging; choose one at the edge. Three grades: the superior practitioner does not select a favorite tree and have it prepared, but moves leaves aside with his foot and dwells there; the medium may have someone already at the place prepare it; the mild may have a monastery attendant or novice sweep, level, spread sand, make a wall, and install a gate. At the height of day, one does not sit under the tree but in another covered place. Breach: the moment one dwells in a covered place (Aṅguttara reciters: when one knowingly causes dawn to arise under cover). Benefits: accord with the dependence “going forth in dependence on a tree-root lodging”; the requisite praised by the Blessed One; arousing the perception of impermanence through constantly seeing leaves change; freedom from stinginess about lodging and delight in work; dwelling with deities; and conformity to fewness of wishes. The verses say that the tree root is praised by the Buddha and called a “dependence,” and no secluded dwelling equals it; the restrained person dwells beneath the secluded tree that removes stinginess and is guarded by deities; seeing red, green, yellow, and fallen leaves, he removes the perception of permanence; the discerning should not despise that heritage of the Buddha, the dwelling of one who delights in cultivation—the secluded tree root (Vernacular §3). 〔Reading〕Each of the seven trees to be avoided suggests its own reason (a boundary tree invites dispute, a shrine tree reverence, a resinous tree staining, a fruit tree visitors, a bat tree disturbance, a hollow tree danger, and a central tree commotion), though the treatise does not explain them. “Seeing leaves change and arousing the perception of impermanence” is one of the chapter’s rare explicit statements about a meditation subject: the lodging itself becomes an object of contemplation.

§04 The Open-Air-Dweller’s Practice → Vernacular §4

Undertaking: “I refuse a covered place and the root of a tree.” Method: one may enter the observance hall to hear the Dhamma or for the observance; if rain begins after entering, do not leave while it rains but leave once it stops. One may enter a dining hall or fire hall to perform duties, greet elders with food, go under cover to give or receive instruction, and move beds and seats inside. When carrying a senior person’s requisite on the road, one may enter a roadside hall in rain; empty-handed, one may not hurry toward the hall, but if one enters at a normal pace, one may remain until the rain stops. The same applies to a tree-root dweller. Three grades: the superior practitioner does not rely on tree, mountain, or house and makes only a robe-tent in the open air; the medium may rely on tree, mountain, or house but not enter; the mild may use a not-fully-covered rock overhang, branch shelter, seat and cloth, or a little hut abandoned by a field watcher. Breach: the moment one enters a covered place or tree root to dwell (Aṅguttara reciters: when one knowingly causes dawn to arise there). Benefits: cutting off the impediment of lodging; removing sloth and torpor; accord with the praise “like deer, unattached in their wandering and homeless in their dwelling”; nonattachment; belonging to the four quarters; and conformity to fewness of wishes. The verses describe a bhikkhu dwelling in the readily available open air consonant with homelessness, stars as jeweled canopy and moon as lamp; with a deer’s mind, he removes sloth and torpor, applies himself to delight in cultivation, and soon tastes seclusion; the wise should delight in the open air (Vernacular §4). 〔Reading〕“Empty-handed one may not hurry toward the hall” separates entering for the purpose of dwelling from entering incidentally. Carrying a senior person’s requisite makes entry a duty; hurrying empty-handed makes it shelter from rain for oneself. The breach is not in the doorway but in the mind. “Like a deer” is this practice’s image, distinct from the preceding practice’s “heritage of the Buddha” and the forest practice’s “battlefield.”

§05 The Charnel-Ground-Dweller’s Practice → Vernacular §5

Undertaking: “I refuse a place that is not a charnel ground.” Method: a place designated a charnel ground when a settlement was built does not count; a corpse must have been burned there, after which it remains a charnel ground even if abandoned for twelve years. Do not build a walking shelter, set up bed or seat, provide drinking and washing water, or teach people the Dhamma while living there. This is a weighty ascetic practice, so inform the Saṅgha’s senior elder or a royal official in advance so dangers can be removed, and dwell heedfully; while walking, keep half an eye on the cremation place. Leave the main road and take an out-of-the-way path to the charnel ground. Identify the object by day so that the night is not frightening. Do not strike nonhuman beings even if they cry out and roam at night. Do not omit going for even one day (Aṅguttara reciters: one may spend the middle watch there and return during the last watch). Do not consume sesame flour, bean rice, fish, meat, milk, oil, sugar, and other hard and soft foods favored by nonhuman beings; do not enter a householder’s home. Three grades: the superior practitioner lives where burning, corpses, and weeping are constant; one of the three suffices for the medium; the characteristic of a charnel ground suffices for the mild. Breach: not making one’s dwelling in a charnel ground (Aṅguttara reciters: a day on which one does not go there). Benefits: mindfulness of death; heedful dwelling; the sign of foulness; removal of sensual lust; constantly seeing the nature of the body; abundant urgency; abandonment of intoxication with health and the like; endurance of fear and dread; respect from nonhuman beings; and conformity to fewness of wishes. The two verses say that through the power of mindfulness of death, heedlessness cannot touch even a sleeping charnel-ground dweller, while constant sight of corpses keeps the mind from falling under sensuality; abundant urgency removes intoxication, and one seeking peace strives rightly—one whose heart inclines to nibbāna should cultivate it (Vernacular §5). 〔Reading〕“Identify the object by day” is the key to this practice: the charnel ground at night is a revisiting after the object has already been acquired, not an excursion to be frightened. The benefits lead directly to two meditation subjects: mindfulness of death (Chapter 8) and the sign of foulness (Chapter 6). The charnel-ground-dweller’s practice is the lodging counterpart of those two subjects. For the practice’s name this edition follows the established Chinese Buddhist expression “dwelling among burial mounds”; a separate occurrence of “charnel ground” follows the reading already established in the preceding chapter—one expression in two positions.

§06 The Any-Bed-User’s Practice → Vernacular §6

Undertaking: “I refuse greed for lodging.” Method: be content with the lodging assigned by “This one falls to you,” and do not make another person rise. Three grades: the superior practitioner does not ask whether the lodging is far or near, troubled by nonhuman beings or long creatures, hot or cold; the medium may ask but not inspect; the mild may inspect and, if displeased, take another. Breach: the very arising of greed for lodging. Benefits: practicing the instruction “one should be content with what is received”; seeking the welfare of companions in the spiritual life; abandoning discrimination between inferior and superior; cutting off conformity and opposition; closing the door to excessive desire; and conformity to fewness of wishes. The verses say that the any-bed user is content with what is received and sleeps at ease without discrimination even on a grass spread; he is not attached to what is excellent or angry at what is inferior, and compassionately serves the welfare of companions new to the training; one with wisdom should cultivate delight in any bed, practiced by the noble ones and praised by the foremost of sages (Vernacular §6). 〔Reading〕The threshold of breach has the same form as under the house-to-house-seeker’s practice: it occurs “as soon as greed arises.” The grades differ in three steps—whether one asks, inspects, and changes. “Compassionately serving the welfare of companions new to the training” reveals the other side of using any bed: when one does not choose the best place, the best place is left for someone else.

For the General Reader

Read together, the five practices make a map of “dwelling”: how far away (forest), whether there is a roof (tree root and open air), what kind of ground it is (charnel ground), and dwelling wherever one is assigned (any bed). There is no need to memorize the forest measurements; remember the Commentator’s stance: two reciter traditions, three textual methods, and two commentarial accounts are all recorded, and he says only, “This is the measure here.” Remember too that an ill teacher must be served and not abandoned merely to keep one’s practice pure. Three images—the battlefield, the heritage of the Buddha, and the deer—differ from one another, yet all five benefit lists lead to meditation subjects: the perception of impermanence, removal of sloth and torpor, mindfulness of death, the sign of foulness, and freedom from fear. A lodging is not merely a lodging; it becomes an object of contemplation.

To read this unit in full: Vernacular §§1–6 give a complete paragraph-by-paragraph rendering of the undertaking and three measures of village, vicinity, and forest; the three grades, breach, benefits, and four verses of the forest-dweller’s practice; and the respective undertaking, method, three grades, breach, benefits, and verses of the tree-root-dweller’s, open-air-dweller’s, charnel-ground-dweller’s, and any-bed-user’s practices.

The Only One of the Thirteen Practices Not Connected with Requisites: What It Refuses Is Not Clothing, Food, or Lodging but Lying Down—“Simply by Sitting, the Ascetic Shakes Māra’s Heart”

The Big Picture — The One Energy-Related Practice

After two practices concerning robes, five concerning food, and five concerning dwelling, the last practice forms a class by itself: the sitter’s practice, which the miscellaneous discussion calls the one practice “connected with energy” (the other twelve are connected with requisites). It does not limit clothing, food, or lodging; it limits one posture—lying down. This is the smallest unit (the Commentator uses only one paragraph), but it closes the whole set of thirteen. The preceding twelve draw a boundary around “use”; this one draws a boundary around “the body”—do not lie down. The five modes remain: undertaking (§1), method (§1), three grades (§1), breach (§2), and benefits with three verses (§2). 〔Observation〕

§01 The Sitter’s Practice—Undertaking, Method, and Three Grades → Vernacular §1

Undertaking: “I refuse lying down” or “I undertake the sitter’s practice.” Method: during the three watches of the night, rise and walk for one watch; among the postures, only lying down is disallowed. Three grades: for the superior practitioner a leaning support, cloth binding, and binding strap are all disallowed; the medium may use any one of the three; the mild may use all three, a pillow, and even a five-part seat (with a back support) or seven-part seat (with a back support and two side supports). The seven-part seat is said to have been made for the Elder Miḷābhaya, who became a non-returner and attained final nibbāna (Vernacular §1). 〔Reading〕“Walking during one of the three watches of the night” gives the practical face of this practice: it is not an entire night of rigid sitting, but an alternation of sitting and walking. The three grades differ entirely in “whether and how much one leans”—the superior practitioner does not use even a strap. The treatise connects the Elder Miḷābhaya’s case with “it is said” and tells us only that he used a seven-part seat and became a non-returner. A mild-grade seat is no obstacle to the noble fruit; the Commentator says this through a single story.

§02 The Breach, Benefits, and Three Verses of the Sitter’s Practice → Vernacular §2

Breach: the moment one lies down. Benefits: cutting off the bondage of mind expressed by “dwelling devoted to the pleasure of lying, reclining, and sleeping”; support for the cultivation of every meditation subject; a posture that inspires confidence; conformity to the arousing of energy; and growth of right practice. Three verses: the meditator sits cross-legged and holds the body upright, and simply by sitting shakes Māra’s heart; the bhikkhu who abandons the pleasures of lying and sleep, arouses energy, and delights in sitting adorns the forest of austerity; because he attains rapture and happiness without material nutriment, the steadfast person should cultivate the sitter’s observance (Vernacular §2). 〔Reading〕The second benefit deserves a pause: “support for the cultivation of every meditation subject.” The treatise says only that it supports the cultivation of them all, without tying it to any particular subject; it does not explain why, and this exposition does not supply an explanation. The first verse is the most forceful line in the chapter: without doing anything else, simply by sitting, one has already moved Māra’s heart. “Rapture and happiness without material nutriment” are the rapture and happiness of jhāna factors—happiness not dependent on the material nutriment of the five cords of sensual pleasure. This is the result toward which sitting points.

For the General Reader

This is the shortest of the thirteen practices and the most direct: do not lie down. The distinction between superior, medium, and mild lies only in whether one leans against something and how much; breach is simply lying down. Its benefit is not tied to one meditation subject but supports all cultivation—the treatise says only this and does not explain why. Remember one line: sitting cross-legged, holding the body upright, one shakes Māra’s heart merely by sitting. The thirteen practices end here. What follows is the chapter’s concluding miscellaneous discussion: the wholesome triad, the ascetic and the speaker on asceticism, ascetic qualities, and the count in brief and in detail.

To read this unit in full: Vernacular §§1–2 give a complete paragraph-by-paragraph rendering of the sitter’s practice—its undertaking, method, three grades and the account of the Elder Miḷābhaya, breach, benefits, and three verses.

The Last Three of the Ten Modes Close Here: No Unwholesome Ascetic Practice (the Wholesome Triad); the Fourfold Classification of Ascetic and Speaker on Asceticism (Distinction); and the Thirteen Reduced to Eight, Four Classes, Two Classes, and One Volition, Then Expanded to Forty-Two (Brief and Detailed)—The Ascetic Practice Is One: the Volition of Undertaking

The Big Picture — A Threefold Miscellany Discussion and the Chapter’s Conclusion

Of the ten modes in the general verse, the first seven have been treated practice by practice. This unit follows the latter half of the verse (“and by the wholesome triad, by distinctions beginning with the ascetic, and again in brief and in detail”) to explain the remaining three: the wholesome triad (§1)—ascetic practices are either wholesome or indeterminate, never unwholesome; distinctions beginning with the ascetic (§§2–4)—the ascetic, the fourfold classification of the speaker on asceticism, the five ascetic qualities, the enumeration of the thirteen, and the persons for whom cultivating them is supportive; and in brief and in detail (§§5–6)—reduction to eight practices, four classes, two classes, and one volition, and expansion to forty-two. The conclusion and chapter colophon follow (§7). This unit gives the Commentator’s doctrinal placement of the ascetic practices: they are a matter of wholesome mental factors, not self-mortification; their essence is one volition, not thirteen objects; they suit persons of greedy and deluded temperament, with two practices also supportive for one of hating temperament. 〔Observation〕

§01 The Opening Verse and Analysis by the Wholesome Triad → Vernacular §1

All ascetic practices, according as they belong to a trainee, ordinary person, or one whose taints are destroyed, are wholesome or indeterminate: there is no unwholesome ascetic practice. Someone argues from the statement “one of evil wishes, overcome by wishes, becomes a forest dweller” that there are unwholesome ascetic practices. The reply is that we do not say one cannot dwell in a forest with an unwholesome mind: a forest dweller may have evil wishes or few wishes. Yet none of the three explanations of “ascetic practice” in the general unit—a practice of one who shakes off defilements, a practice belonging to knowledge that receives the name “ascetic,” and what is both itself shaken off and a practice of the path—allows anything unwholesome. No one becomes an ascetic through what is unwholesome; what is unwholesome shakes off nothing; and it cannot both shake off greed and become a practice of the path. Therefore “there is no unwholesome ascetic practice” is well said. Those who place the ascetic practices outside the wholesome triad have, in meaning, no ascetic practices at all: when nothing is shaken off, what is called ascetic? Their account also contradicts the statement “one practices having undertaken ascetic qualities” and should not be adopted (Vernacular §1). 〔Reading〕The key to this debate is separating “the person living in a forest” from “the forest-dweller’s practice.” A person can have evil wishes; the practice cannot be unwholesome, because the practice is precisely the volition of undertaking that shakes off defilements. The Commentator uses the three explanations from the general unit as three measuring rods and shows, one by one, that the unwholesome has nowhere to stand. He likewise rejects the position that ascetic practices are outside the wholesome triad (that is, that they are a designation rather than an actual quality): outside the triad, there is nothing capable of shaking off defilements.

§02 The Fourfold Classification of the Ascetic and the Speaker on Asceticism → Vernacular §2

“Distinctions beginning with the ascetic” comprises five matters: the ascetic, the speaker on asceticism, the ascetic qualities, the ascetic practices, and the persons for whom cultivating the practices is supportive. An ascetic is a person whose defilements are shaken off or a quality capable of shaking them off. A speaker on asceticism has four cases: ascetic but not speaker—one who shakes off his own defilements through the practices but does not teach them to others, like the Elder Bākula; speaker but not ascetic—one who does not shake off his own defilements but teaches others, like the Elder Upananda; neither—like Lāḷudāyī; both—like the General of the Dhamma (called Sāriputta in the citation) (Vernacular §2). 〔Reading〕The four cases are presented through four people, and the Commentator attaches to each a citation saying, “This Venerable so-and-so is/is not …” The second is especially worth remembering: one who speaks about asceticism but is not an ascetic—someone who teaches restraint to others without restraining himself—already existed in ancient times. The fourth person is “General of the Dhamma” in prose and “Sāriputta” in the citation: one person with two names, preserved as found in this edition.

§03 The Five Ascetic Qualities → Vernacular §3

The five ascetic qualities are fewness of wishes, contentment, austerity, seclusion, and devotion to this alone—the qualities accompanying the volition of undertaking an ascetic practice. Reduced to their roots, fewness of wishes and contentment are non-greed; austerity and seclusion fall under non-greed and non-delusion; and devotion to this alone is knowledge alone. Their functions are these: non-greed shakes off greed for the object refused; non-delusion shakes off delusion that conceals its danger; non-greed also shakes off devotion to sensual pleasure arising through the use of what is permitted, while non-delusion shakes off devotion to self-mortification arising through excessive austerity (Vernacular §3). 〔Reading〕The last two clauses are a declaration of the middle: the ascetic practices have two ways to lose their footing—devotion to sensual pleasure through the use of permitted things (falling short), and self-mortification through excessive austerity (going too far). Non-greed breaks the former, non-delusion the latter. Ascetic practice is not self-mortification; this passage is the Commentator’s explicit evidence, for even “excessive austerity” is listed among the things to be shaken off. 〔Observation〕

§04 The Enumeration of the Thirteen and the Persons for Whom Ascetic Practices Are Supportive → Vernacular §4

The ascetic practices are the thirteen from refuse-rag wearing through sitting, already explained by meaning, characteristic, and the rest. For whom are they supportive? For one of greedy temperament and one of deluded temperament. Cultivating them is both painful practice and a dwelling in austerity: greed subsides through painful practice, while the delusion of one who is heedful is abandoned through austerity. Alternatively, the forest-dweller’s and tree-root-dweller’s practices are also supportive for one of hating temperament, because hatred subsides when one lives where nothing afflicts one (Vernacular §4). 〔Reading〕This mapping of temperaments extends the unit on temperament in Chapter 3: the greedy temperament is paired there with foulness and the like, and here with the ascetic practices. The hating temperament receives an exception of two practices for a practical reason: when no one provokes him, hatred has nowhere to arise.

§05 In Brief—Three Principal Practices and Five Unmixed Practices, Four Classes, and Two Classes → Vernacular §5

In brief there are eight practices: three principal practices (house-to-house seeking, one-session eating, and open-air dwelling: maintaining house-to-house seeking also maintains almsfood eating; maintaining one-session eating makes bowl-food eating and refusing later food easy; maintaining open-air dwelling leaves nothing further to maintain under tree-root dwelling and any-bed use) and five unmixed practices (forest dwelling, refuse-rag wearing, triple-robe wearing, sitting, and charnel-ground dwelling). There are four classes: two connected with robes, five with almsfood, five with lodging, and one with energy (sitting). There are two classes: twelve depending on requisites and one on energy; or what should and should not be cultivated. If cultivating a practice increases one’s meditation subject, cultivate it; if it causes decline, do not. If cultivation or non-cultivation alike brings increase, cultivate it out of compassion for later people; if neither brings increase, cultivate it for conditioning in the future (Vernacular §5). 〔Reading〕The logic of a “principal practice” is inclusion: when the stricter one is maintained, the more lenient practices are already contained within it. This is the inner dependency structure of the thirteen. The final two cases under “what should and should not be cultivated” show the Commentator’s gentleness: even if a practice does nothing for you, it should still be cultivated for later people and for future conditioning.

§06 Reduction to One Volition and the Detailed Count of Forty-Two → Vernacular §6

Considered as volition, there is one kind: the ascetic practice is one, the volition of undertaking; the Commentary likewise says, “That volition is the ascetic practice.” In detail there are thirteen for a bhikkhu, eight for a bhikkhunī, twelve for a novice, seven for a probationer and female novice, and two for male and female lay followers—forty-two. At a charnel ground in the open air possessing the characteristics of the forest-dweller’s practice, one bhikkhu can observe all the practices at once. For a bhikkhunī, forest dwelling and refusing later food are prohibited by training rules, while open-air, tree-root, and charnel-ground dwelling are difficult: she may not live without a second companion; a like-minded companion is hard to find; and even if found, mixed dwelling cannot be avoided, defeating the purpose of the practice. Removing five leaves eight. A novice has twelve apart from the triple-robe-wearer’s practice; probationers and female novices have seven; male and female lay followers have the two practices of one-session eating and bowl-food eating (Vernacular §6). 〔Reading〕The “brief” treatment contracts everything to one volition, while the “detailed” treatment expands it to forty-two. Both ends say the same thing: the ascetic practice has a single essence but takes different forms according to the person. The reasons for subtracting five from a bhikkhunī are concrete: not inability, but a Vinaya prohibition and practical difficulty. The two lay practices can be undertaken by householders—the ascetic practices are not the exclusive property of monastics.

§07 Conclusion of the Chapter → Vernacular §7

At this point, in the Visuddhimagga, taught under the three headings of virtue, concentration, and wisdom according to the verse “A wise person established in virtue,” the discussion of the ascetic practices to be undertaken for the fulfillment of such qualities as fewness of wishes and contentment, through which the purification of virtue described in the preceding chapter occurs, has been completed. The chapter colophon reads: in the Visuddhimagga, made for the delight of good people, the second chapter, called the Explanation of the Ascetic Practices, is complete (Vernacular §7). 〔Reading〕The closing sentence joins the chapter back to the opening of the work: ascetic practices are taught for the “purification of virtue.” The division on virtue (Chapters 1–2) closes here; the next chapter begins the division on concentration. This edition makes the chapter heading and the colophon’s name uniform as “Explanation of the Ascetic Practices,” following the precedent of the explanations in the remaining chapters. 〔Observation〕

For the General Reader

This unit answers three questions every reader will ask. Are ascetic practices self-mortification? No—even excessive austerity is among the things to be shaken off; they are a matter of wholesome mental factors. What are they really? One volition of undertaking; the thirteen practices are only thirteen places where that one volition lands in clothing, food, lodging, and body. Who should cultivate them? Persons of greedy and deluded temperament, with two practices for one of hating temperament; laypeople also have two practices they can cultivate. Remember the person in the fourfold classification who “speaks about asceticism but is not an ascetic.” The chapter closes here, completing the division on virtue; the next chapter begins concentration.

To read this unit in full: Vernacular §§1–7 give a complete paragraph-by-paragraph rendering of the debate over the wholesome triad; the fourfold classification of the ascetic and speaker on asceticism; the five ascetic qualities and the middle; the enumeration of the thirteen and the persons for whom they are supportive; the brief treatment as eight practices, four classes, and two classes; the reduction to one volition and detailed expansion to forty-two; and the chapter conclusion and colophon.