Connected discourses on the six sense bases: -- Saṃyutta Nikāya 35 translated by Bhikkhu Bodhi. 74. Sick (1)

Connected discourses on the six sense bases: -- 
Saṃyutta Nikāya 35 translated by Bhikkhu Bodhi.
74. Sick (1)

At Savatthi. Then a certain bhikkhu approached the Blessed One, paid homage to him, sat down to one side, and said to him: “Venerable sir, in such and such a dwelling there is a certain newly ordained bhikkhu, not well known, who is sick, afflicted, gravely ill. It would be good, venerable sir, if the Blessed One would approach that bhikkhu out of compassion.”

Then, when the Blessed One heard the words “newly ordained” and “sick,” and understood that he was not a well-known bhikkhu, he went to him. That bhikkhu saw the Blessed One coming in the distance and stirred on his bed. The Blessed One said to him: “Enough, bhikkhu, do not stir on your bed. There are these seats ready, I will sit down there.”

The Blessed One then sat down on the appointed seat and said to that bhikkhu: “I hope you are bearing up, bhikkhu, I hope you are getting better. I hope that your painful feelings are subsiding and not increasing, and that their subsiding, not their increase, is to be discerned.”

“Venerable sir, I am not bearing up, I am not getting better. Strong painful feelings are increasing in me, not subsiding, and their increase, not their subsiding, is to be discerned.”

“I hope then, bhikkhu, that you are not troubled by remorse and regret.”

“Indeed, venerable sir, I have quite a lot of remorse and regret.”

“I hope, bhikkhu, that you have nothing for which to reproach yourself in regard to virtue.”

“I have nothing, venerable sir, for which to reproach myself in regard to virtue.”

“Then, bhikkhu, if you have nothing for which to reproach yourself in regard to virtue, why are you troubled by remorse and regret?”

“I understand, venerable sir, that it is not for the sake of purification of virtue that the Dhamma has been taught by the Blessed One.”

“If, bhikkhu, you understand that the Dhamma has not been taught by me for the sake of purification of virtue, then for what purpose do you understand the Dhamma to have been taught by me?”

“Venerable sir, I understand the Dhamma to have been taught by the Blessed One for the sake of the fading away of lust.”

“Good, good, bhikkhu! It is good that you understand the Dhamma to have been taught by me for the sake of the fading away of lust. For the Dhamma is taught by me for the sake of the fading away of lust.

“What do you think, bhikkhu, is the eye permanent or impermanent?”—“Impermanent, venerable sir.”… “Is the ear … the mind permanent or impermanent?”—“Impermanent, venerable sir.”—“Is what is impermanent suffering or happiness?”—“Suffering, venerable sir.”—“Is what is impermanent, suffering, and subject to change fit to be regarded thus: ‘This is mine, this I am, this is my self’?”—“No, venerable sir.”

“Seeing thus … He understands: ‘… there is no more for this state of being.’”

This is what the Blessed One said. Elated, that bhikkhu delighted in the Blessed One’s statement. And while this discourse was being spoken, there arose in that bhikkhu the dust-free, stainless vision of the Dhamma: “Whatever is subject to origination is all subject to cessation.”

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5 September 2023

RIGHT INTENTION: (Samma Sankappa) by Venerable Bodhi

RIGHT INTENTION: (Samma Sankappa)  by Venerable Bodhi

The second factor of the path is right intention. "Sankappa" means purpose, intention, resolve, aspiration, motivation. This factor of right intention follows as the natural consequence of right view. 

Through right view, we gain an understanding of the real nature of existence, and this understanding changes our motivation, our purposes in life, our intentions and inclinations. As a result, our minds become shaped by right intentions as opposed to wrong intentions.

In his analysis of this factor, the Buddha explains that there are three kinds of right intentions:

a) The intention of renunciation

b) The intention of non-aversion or loving kindness.

c) The intention of non-injury or compassion.

These are opposed to the three wrong intentions, the intention of sensuality, the intention of aversion and intention of harmfulness or cruelty.

Right intention, as we said, follows naturally from right view. Whenever we gain right view, insight into the fact of Dukkha, then we become motivated to renounce our attachments, our clinging to pleasure, wealth, power and fame. We don't have to suppress the desire for them. 

The desire falls off naturally by itself. When we look at other beings through the lens of the Four Noble Truths, we see that others are also caught up in the net of suffering. This perception brings about a deep identification with others, a feeling of oneness with them, which leads to loving kindness and compassion. 

As these attitudes arise they motivate us to renounce aversion and hatred and all violence and cruelty.

This second factor counteracts the two unwholesome roots of actions, greed and aversion.

With the next three factors, we learn to translate right intention into action. These we get the three factors of right speech, right action, and right livelihood.

29 March 2023

A Great Gift

A Great Gift

"Bhikkhus, here, a noble disciple, having abandoned the destruction of life, abstains from the destruction of life. 

By abstaining from the destruction of life, the noble disciple gives to an immeasurable number of beings freedom from fear, enmity, and affliction. 

He himself in turn enjoys immeasurable freedom from fear, enmity, and affliction. This is the first gift, a great gift, primal, of long standing, traditional, ancient, unadulterated and never before adulterated, which is not being adulterated and will not be adulterated and will not be adulterated, not repudiated by wise ascetics and brahmins.

This is the stream of merit, stream of the wholesome, nutriment of happiness- -heavenly, ripening in happiness, conducive to heaven--that leads to what is wished for, desired, and agreeable, to one's welfare and happiness."  

"Again, a noble disciple, having abandoned the talking of what is not given, abstains from talking what is not given. 

By abstaining from the taking what is not given, the noble disciple gives to an immeasurable number of beings freedom from fear, enmity, and affliction. 

He himself in turn enjoys immeasurable freedom from fear, enmity, and affliction. This is the second gift, a great gift, primal, of long standing, traditional, ancient, unadulterated and never before adulterated, which is not being adulterated and will not be adulterated, not repudiated by wise ascetics and brahmins.

This is the stream of merit, stream of the wholesome, nutriment of happiness- -heavenly ripening in happiness, conducive to heaven- -that leads to what is wished for, desired, and agreeable, to one's welfare and happiness."

"Again, a noble disciple, having abandoned from sexual misconduct, abstains from sexual misconduct. 

 By abstaining from sexual misconduct, the noble disciple gives to an immeasurable number of beings freedom from fear, enmity, and affliction. 

He himself in turn enjoys immeasurable freedom from fear, enmity, and affliction. This is the third gift, a great gift, primal, of long standing, traditional, ancient, unadulterated and never before adulterated, which is not being adulterated and will not be adulterated, not repudiated by wise ascetics and brahmins.

This is the stream of merit, stream of the wholesome, nutriment of happiness- -heavenly, ripening in happiness, conducive to heaven- -that leads to what is wished for, desired, and agreeable, to one's welfare and happiness."

  

~ Bhikkhu Bodhi (trans.)

15th November, 2022

THE RIGHT LIVELIHOOD By Venerable Bhikkhu Bodhi

THE RIGHT LIVELIHOOD
By Venerable Bhikkhu Bodhi

“Therein, bhikkhus, right view comes first. And how does right view come first? 

One understands wrong livelihood as wrong livelihood and right livelihood as right livelihood: this is one’s right view.

“And what, bhikkhus, is wrong livelihood? 

Scheming, talking, hinting, belittling, pursuing gain with gain: this is wrong livelihood.

“And what, bhikkhus, is right livelihood? 

Right livelihood, I say, is twofold: 

1. there is right livelihood that is affected by taints, partaking of merit, ripening in the acquisitions;

2.  and there is right livelihood that is noble, taintless, supramundane, a factor of the path.

“And what, bhikkhus, is right livelihood that is affected by taints, partaking of merit, ripening in the acquisitions? 

Here, bhikkhus, a noble disciple abandons wrong livelihood and gains his living by right livelihood: this is right livelihood that is affected by taints…ripening in the acquisitions.

“And what, bhikkhus, is right livelihood that is noble, taintless, supramundane, a factor of the path? 

The desisting from wrong livelihood, the abstaining, refraining, abstinence from it in one whose mind is noble, whose mind is taintless, who possesses the noble path and is developing the noble path: this is right livelihood that is noble…a factor of the path.

“One makes an effort to abandon wrong livelihood and to enter upon right livelihood: this is one’s right effort. 

Mindfully one abandons wrong livelihood, mindfully one enters upon and dwells in right livelihood: this is one’s right mindfulness. 

Thus these three states run and circle around right livelihood, that is, right view, right effort, and right mindfulness

THE RIGHT INTENTION By Venerable Bhkkhu Bodhi

THE RIGHT INTENTION
By Venerable Bhkkhu Bodhi

“Therein, bhikkhus, right view comes first. And how does right view come first?

One understands wrong intention as wrong intention and right intention as right intention: this is one’s right view.

“And what, bhikkhus, is wrong intention?

The intention of sensual desire, the intention of ill will, and the intention of cruelty: this is wrong intention.

“And what, bhikkhus, is right intention?

Right intention, I say, is twofold:
1. there is right intention that is affected by taints, partaking of merit, ripening in the acquisitions, and
2.  there is right intention that is noble, taintless, supramundane, a factor of the path.

“And what, bhikkhus, is right intention that is affected by taints, partaking of merit, ripening in the acquisitions?

The intention of renunciation, the intention of non-ill will, and the intention of non-cruelty: this is right intention that is affected by taints…ripening in the acquisitions.

“And what, bhikkhus, is right intention that is noble, taintless, supramundane, a factor of the path?

The thinking, thought, intention, mental absorption, mental fixity, directing of mind, verbal formation in one whose mind is noble, whose mind is taintless, who possesses the noble path and is developing the noble path
: this is right intention that is noble…a factor of the path.

“One makes an effort to abandon wrong intention and to enter upon right intention: this is one’s right effort.

Mindfully one abandons wrong intention, mindfully one enters upon and abides in right intention: this is one’s right mindfulness.

Thus these three states run and circle around right intention, that is, right view, right effort, and right mindfulness.

https://suttacentral.net/mn117/en/bodhi

WHO IS AN ARAHANT ?" By Ven Balacitta

Dhamma Talk

 

 "WHO  IS  AN  ARAHANT ?"

By Ven Balacitta

When the sun shines at the lotus pond, not all of the lotuses will receive the sunshine. Some of the lotuses will have wilted away even before they reach the surface of the water; some break through and float gently just on the surface while others rise and bloom in all their glory a foot or so above the surface, enjoying the beautiful sunshine.

Actually, not all of us after hearing the Buddha's teaching can be able to practice or want to practice the teaching successfully until we reach full enlightenment or arahantship. Some of us are without hope at all, some are on the way to it and some need more then a life time, and only those who are very gifted can gain full enlightenment in a life time of practice. It is just like the various stages of growth of the lotuses.

There are 4 levels of enlightenment – Sotapanna [1st stage], 

Sakadagami [2nd stage], 

Anagami [3rd stage] and 

a fully Enlightened Arahant. 

The level of enlightenment one achieves is dependent on how well one has developed the Noble Eight Fold Path. All unenlightened beings have 10 fetters that hinder them from gaining enlightenment. When a person has eradicated all the 10 fetters, he is an Arahant. In brief, the ten fetters are:

1. identity view;

2. doubt (about the Buddha, Dhamma, Sangha, and the training);

3. wrong grasp of rules and observances;

4. sensual lust;

5. ill will;

6. desire for existence in form realm;

7. desire for formless existence;

8. conceit;

9. restlessness; and

10. ignorance.

Sotapanna is known in English as stream-enterer and he had eradicated the first three fetters. A stream-enterer is so called, because he has entered into the stream that leads toward nibbana, that is, the stream of the Noble Eight Fold path. 

When a person reaches this stage, he will at most have seven more life times to go either into the human realm or heavenly realm before he experiences the highest bliss - Nibbana.

A Sakadagami is known in English as once-returner and he has eradicated the first three fetters and weakened lust, hatred, and delusion. He will only return to this world once, before he experiences Nibbaana.

An Anagami is known in English as a non-returner and he has eradicated the first five fetters. He will take rebirth in the brahma world and from there, when time is ripe, he will experience Nibbaana.

The highest and the best attainment is the stage of Arahant. It is attained when someone has fully developed the Noble Eight fold Path and thus eradicated all the 10 fetters. When a person gains this stage, he realizes and experiences the highest bliss - Nibbaana. It is to our great benefit if we have a chance to meet and serve an arahant.

There are nine things that can never be seen to be done by arahants. They will never do it, not even in secret. If we do see a self-claimed arahant doing such things, then we can declare openly, without any fear of creating any bad Kamma, that the so claimed arahant is a fake!

The nine things that arahants will not do are:

1. killing living beings intentionally;

2. taking what is not given with the intention to steal;

3. engaging in sexual activities;

4. telling a deliberate lie;

5. making use of accumulated enjoyments which he did in the past when he was a householder (for example,

food and money);

6. taking a wrong course of action on account of desire;

7. taking a wrong course of action on account of hatred;

8. taking a wrong course of action on account of delusion; and

9. taking a wrong course of action on account of fear.

~ (AN 9:7)

That’s all for this talk. If any of you happen to discover that someone is really an arahant, please inform me. I want to visit an arahant for it is good and a great blessing. Thank you and may you all be happy.

Note: Reference to most of the information above is obtainable from the book entitled, "In the Buddha's Words" by Bhikkhu Bodhi.

Sadhu ............ Sadhu ............... Sadhu 

RIGHT CONCENTRATION (Samma Samadhi) by Bhikkhu Bodhi

RIGHT CONCENTRATION (Samma Samadhi) by Bhikkhu Bodhi

The eighth factor of the path is right concentration, in Pali samma samadhi. Concentration represents an intensification of a mental factor present in every state of consciousness.

This factor, one-pointedness of mind (citt'ekaggata), has the function of unifying the other mental factors in the task of cognition. It is the factor responsible for the individuating aspect of consciousness, ensuring that every citta or act of mind remains centred on its object.

At any given moment the mind must be cognizant of something -- a sight, a sound, a smell, a taste, a touch, or a mental object. The factor of one-pointedness unifies the mind and its other concomitants in the task of cognizing the object, while it simultaneously exercises the function of centring all the constituents of the cognitive act on the object.

One-pointedness of mind explains the fact that in any act of consciousness there is a central point of focus, towards which the entire objective datum points from its outer peripheries to its inner nucleus.

However, samadhi is only a particular kind of one-pointedness; it is not equivalent to one-pointedness in its entirety. A gourmet sitting down to a meal, an assassin about to slay his victim, a soldier on the battlefield -- these all act with a concentrated mind, but their concentration cannot be characterized as samadhi.

Samadhi is exclusively wholesome one-pointedness, the concentration in a wholesome state of mind. Even then its range is still narrower: it does not signify every form of wholesome concentration, but only the intensified concentration that results from a deliberate attempt to raise the mind to a higher, more purified level of awareness.

The commentaries define samadhi as the centring of the mind and mental factors rightly and evenly on an object. Samadhi, as wholesome concentration, collects together the ordinarily dispersed and dissipated stream of mental states to induce an inner unification.
The two salient features of a concentrated mind are unbroken attentiveness to an object and the consequent tranquillity of the mental functions, qualities which distinguish it from the unconcentrated mind.

The mind untrained in concentration moves in a scattered manner which the Buddha compares to the flapping about of a fish taken from the water and thrown onto dry land. It cannot stay fixed but rushes from idea to idea, from thought to thought, without inner control. Such a distracted mind is also a deluded mind.

Overwhelmed by worries and concerns, a constant prey to the defilements, it sees things only in fragments, distorted by the ripples of random thoughts.
But the mind that has been trained in concentration, in contrast, can remain focused on its object without distraction. This freedom from distraction further induces a softness and serenity which make the mind an effective instrument for penetration. Like a lake unruffled by any breeze, the concentrated mind is a faithful reflector that mirrors whatever is placed before it exactly as it is.

The Development of Concentration

Concentration can be developed through either of two methods -- either as the goal of a system of practice directed expressly towards the attainment of deep concentration at the level of absorption or as the incidental accompaniment of the path intended to generate insight. The former method is called the development of serenity (samatha-bhavana), the second the development of insight (vipassana-bhavana).

Both paths share certain preliminary requirements. For both, moral discipline must be purified, the various impediments must be severed, the meditator must seek out suitable instruction (preferrably from a personal teacher), and must resort to a dwelling conducive to practice. Once these preliminaries have been dispensed with, the meditator on the path of serenity has to obtain an object of meditation, something to be used as a focal point for developing concentration.[1]

If the meditator has a qualified teacher, the teacher will probably assign him an object judged to be appropriate for his temperament. If he doesn't have a teacher, he will have to select an object himself, perhaps after some experimentation. The meditation manuals collect the subjects of serenity meditation into a set of forty, called "places of work" (kammatthana) since they are the places where the meditator does the work of practice. The forty may be listed as follows:

ten kasinas
ten unattractive objects (dasa asubha)
ten recollections (dasa anussatiyo)
four sublime states (cattaro brahmavihara)
four immaterial states (cattaro aruppa)
one perception (eka sanna)
one analysis (eka vavatthana).

The kasinas are devices representing certain primordial qualities. Four represent the primary elements -- the earth, water, fire, and air kasinas; four represent colours -- the blue, yellow, red, and white kasinas; the other two are the light and the space kasinas. Each kasina is a concrete object representative of the universal quality it signifies. Thus an earth kasina would be a circular disk filled with clay. To develop concentration on the earth kasina the meditator sets the disk in front of him, fixes his gaze on it, and contemplates "earth, earth." A similar method is used for the other kasinas, with appropriate changes to fit the case.

The ten "unattractive objects" are corpses in different stages of decomposition. This subject appears similar to the contemplation of bodily decay in the mindfulness of the body, and in fact in olden times the cremation ground was recommended as the most appropriate place for both. But the two meditations differ in emphasis. In the mindfulness exercise stress falls on the application of reflective thought, the sight of the decaying corpse serving as a stimulus for consideration of one's own eventual death and disintegration. In this exercise the use of reflective thought is discouraged. The stress instead falls on one-pointed mental fixation on the object, the less thought the better.
The ten recollections form a miscellaneous collection. The first three are devotional meditations on the qualities of the Triple Gem -- the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Sangha; they use as their basis standard formulas that have come down in the Suttas. The next three recollections also rely on ancient formulas: the meditations on morality, generosity, and the potential for divine-like qualities in oneself. Then come mindfulness of death, the contemplation of the unattractive nature of the body, mindfulness of breathing, and lastly, the recollection of peace, a discursive meditation on Nibbana.

The four sublime states or "divine abodes" are the outwardly directed social attitudes -- lovingkindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity -- developed into universal radiations which are gradually extended in range until they encompass all living beings. The four immaterial states are the objective bases for certain deep levels of absorption: the base of infinite space, the base of infinite consciousness, the base of nothingness, and the base of neither-perception-nor-non-perception. These become accessible as objects only to those who are already adept in concentration. The "one perception" is the perception of the repulsiveness of food, a discursive topic intended to reduce attachment to the pleasures of the palate. The "one analysis" is the contemplation of the body in terms of the four primary elements, already discussed in the chapter on right mindfulness.
When such a variety of meditation subjects is presented, the aspiring meditator without a teacher might be perplexed as to which to choose. The manuals divide the forty subjects according to their suitability for different personality types. Thus the unattractive objects and the contemplation of the parts of the body are judged to be most suitable for a lustful type, the meditation on loving kindness to be best for a hating type, the meditation on the qualities of the Triple Gem to be most effective for a devotional type, etc.

But for practical purposes the beginner in meditation can generally be advised to start with a simple subject that helps reduce discursive thinking. Mental distraction caused by restlessness and scattered thoughts is a common problem faced by persons of all different character types; thus a meditator of any temperament can benefit from a subject which promotes a slowing down and stilling of the thought process. The subject generally recommended for its effectiveness in clearing the mind of stray thoughts is mindfulness of breathing, which can therefore be suggested as the subject most suitable for beginners as well as veterans seeking a direct approach to deep concentration. Once the mind settles down and one's thought patterns become easier to notice, one might then make use of other subjects to deal with special problems that arise: the meditation on loving kindness may be used to counteract anger and ill will, mindfulness of the bodily parts to weaken sensual lust, the recollection of the Buddha to inspire faith and devotion, the meditation on death to arouse a sense of urgency. The ability to select the subject appropriate to the situation requires skill, but this skill evolves through practice, often through simple trial-and-error experimentation.

The Stages of Concentration

Concentration is not attained all at once but develops in stages. To enable our exposition to cover all the stages of concentration, we will consider the case of a meditator who follows the entire path of serenity meditation from start to finish, and who will make much faster progress than the typical meditator is likely to make.

After receiving his meditation subject from a teacher, or selecting it on his own, the meditator retires to a quiet place. There he assumes the correct meditation posture -- the legs crossed comfortably, the upper part of the body held straight and erect, hands placed one above the other on the lap, the head kept steady, the mouth and eyes closed (unless a kasina or other visual object is used), the breath flowing naturally and regularly through the nostrils. He then focuses his mind on the object and tries to keep it there, fixed and alert. If the mind strays, he notices this quickly, catches it, and brings it back gently but firmly to the object, doing this over and over as often as is necessary. This initial stage is called preliminary concentration (parikkamma-samadhi) and the object the preliminary sign (parikkamma-nimitta).

Once the initial excitement subsides and the mind begins to settle into the practice, the five hindrances are likely to arise, bubbling up from the depths. Sometimes they appear as thoughts, sometimes as images, sometimes as obsessive emotions: surges of desire, anger and resentment, heaviness of mind, agitation, doubts. The hindrances pose a formidable barrier, but with patience and sustained effort they can be overcome. To conquer them the meditator will have to be adroit. At times, when a particular hindrance becomes strong, he may have to lay aside his primary subject of meditation and take up another subject expressly opposed to the hindrance. At other times he will have to persist with his primary subject despite the bumps along the road, bringing his mind back to it again and again.

As he goes on striving along the path of concentration, his exertion activates five mental factors which come to his aid. These factors are intermittently present in ordinary undirected consciousness, but there they lack a unifying bond and thus do not play any special role. However, when activated by the work of meditation, these five factors pick up power, link up with one another, and steer the mind towards samadhi, which they will govern as the "jhana factors," the factors of absorption (jhananga). Stated in their usual order the five are: initial application of mind (vitakka), sustained application of mind (vicara), rapture (piti), happiness (sukha), and one-pointedness (ekaggata).
Initial application of mind does the work of directing the mind to the object. It takes the mind, lifts it up, and drives it into the object the way one drives a nail through a block of wood. This done, sustained application of mind anchors the mind on the object, keeping it there through its function of examination. To clarify the difference between these two factors, initial application is compared to the striking of a bell, sustained application to the bell's reverberations. Rapture, the third factor, is the delight and joy that accompany a favourable interest in the object, while happiness, the fourth factor, is the pleasant feeling that accompanies successful concentration. Since rapture and happiness share similar qualities they tend to be confused with each other, but the two are not identical. The difference between them is illustrated by comparing rapture to the joy of a weary desert-farer who sees an oasis in the distance, happiness to his pleasure when drinking from the pond and resting in the shade. The fifth and final factor of absorption is one-pointedness, which has the pivotal function of unifying the mind on the object.[2]

When concentration is developed, these five factors spring up and counteract the five hindrances. Each absorption factor opposes a particular hindrance. Initial application of mind, through its work of lifting the mind up to the object, counters dullness and drowsiness. Sustained application, by anchoring the mind on the object, drives away doubt. Rapture shuts out ill will, happiness excludes restlessness and worry, and one-pointedness counters sensual desire, the most alluring inducement to distraction. Thus, with the strengthening of the absorption factors, the hindrances fade out and subside. They are not yet eradicated -- eradication can only be effected by wisdom, the third division of the path -- but they have been reduced to a state of quiescence where they cannot disrupt the forward movement of concentration.

At the same time that the hindrances are being overpowered by the jhana factors inwardly, on the side of the object too certain changes are taking place. The original object of concentration, the preliminary sign, is a gross physical object; in the case of a kasina, it is a disk representing the chosen element or colour, in the case of mindfulness of breathing the touch sensation of the breath, etc. But with the strengthening of concentration the original object gives rise to another object called the "learning sign" (uggaha-nimitta). For a kasina this will be a mental image of the disk seen as clearly in the mind as the original object was with the eyes; for the breath it will be a reflex image arisen from the touch sensation of the air currents moving around the nostrils.

When the learning sign appears, the meditator leaves off the preliminary sign and fixes his attention on the new object. In due time still another object will emerge out of the learning sign. This object, called the "counterpart sign" (patibhaga-nimitta), is a purified mental image many times brighter and clearer than the learning sign. The learning sign is compared to the moon seen behind a cloud, the counterpart sign to the moon freed from the cloud. Simultaneously with the appearance of the counterpart sign, the five absorption factors suppress the five hindrances, and the mind enters the stage of concentration called upacara-samadhi, "access concentration." Here, in access concentration, the mind is drawing close to absorption. It has entered the "neighbourhood" (a possible meaning of upacara) of absorption, but more work is still needed for it to become fully immersed in the object, the defining mark of absorption.

With further practice the factors of concentration gain in strength and bring the mind to absorption (appana-samadhi). Like access concentration, absorption takes the counterpart sign as object. The two stages of concentration are differentiated neither by the absence of the hindrances nor by the counterpart sign as object; these are common to both. What differentiates them is the strength of the jhana factors. In access concentration the jhana factors are present, but they lack strength and steadiness. Thus the mind in this stage is compared to a child who has just learned to walk: he takes a few steps, falls down, gets up, walks some more, and again falls down. But the mind in absorption is like a man who wants to walk: he just gets up and walks straight ahead without hesitation.
Concentration in the stage of absorption is divided into eight levels, each marked by greater depth, purity, and subtlety than its predecessor. The first four form a set called the four jhanas, a word best left untranslated for lack of a suitable equivalent, though it can be loosely rendered "meditative absorption."[3] The second four also form a set, the four immaterial states (aruppa). The eight have to be attained in progressive order, the achievement of any later level being dependent on the mastery of the immediately preceding level.

The four jhanas make up the usual textual definition of right concentration. Thus the Buddha says:
And what, monks, is right concentration? Herein, secluded from sense pleasures, secluded from unwholesome states, a monk enters and dwells in the first jhana, which is accompanied by initial and sustained application of mind and filled with rapture and happiness born of seclusion.
Then, with the subsiding of initial and sustained application of mind, by gaining inner confidence and mental unification, he enters and dwells in the second jhana, which is free from initial and sustained application but is filled with rapture and happiness born of concentration.

With the fading out of rapture, he dwells in equanimity, mindful and clearly comprehending; and he experiences in his own person that bliss of which the noble ones say: "Happily lives he who is equanimous and mindful" -- thus he enters and dwells in the third jhana.
With the abandoning of pleasure and pain and with the previous disappearance of joy and grief, he enters and dwells in the fourth jhana, which has neither-pleasure-nor-pain and purity of mindfulness due to equanimity.

This, monks, is right concentration.[4]

The jhanas are distinguished by way of their component factors. The first jhana is constituted by the original set of five absorption factors: initial application, sustained application, rapture, happiness, and one-pointedness. After attaining the first jhana the meditator is advised to master it. On the one hand he should not fall into complacency over his achievement and neglect sustained practice; on the other, he should not become over-confident and rush ahead to attain the next jhana. To master the jhana he should enter it repeatedly and perfect his skill in it, until he can attain it, remain in it, emerge from it, and review it without any trouble or difficulty.

After mastering the first jhana, the meditator then considers that his attainment has certain defects. Though the jhana is certainly far superior to ordinary sense consciousness, more peaceful and blissful, it still stands close to sense consciousness and is not far removed from the hindrances. Moreover, two of its factors, initial application and sustained application, appear in time to be rather coarse, not as refined as the other factors. Then the meditator renews his practice of concentration intent on overcoming initial and sustained application. When his faculties mature, these two factors subside and he enters the second jhana. This jhana contains only three component factors: rapture, happiness, and one-pointedness. It also contains a multiplicity of other constituents, the most prominent of which is confidence of mind.

In the second jhana the mind becomes more tranquil and more thoroughly unified, but when mastered even this state seems gross, as it includes rapture, an exhilarating factor that inclines to excitation. So the meditator sets out again on his course of training, this time resolved on overcoming rapture. When rapture fades out, he enters the third jhana. Here there are only two absorption factors, happiness and one-pointedness, while some other auxiliary states come into ascendency, most notably mindfulness, clear comprehension, and equanimity. But still, the meditator sees, this attainment is defective in that it contains the feeling of happiness, which is gross compared to neutral feeling, feeling that is neither pleasant not painful. Thus he strives to get beyond even the sublime happiness of the third jhana. When he succeeds, he enters the fourth jhana, which is defined by two factors -- one-pointedness and neutral feeling -- and has a special purity of mindfulness due to the high level of equanimity.

Beyond the four jhanas lie the four immaterial states, levels of absorption in which the mind transcends even the subtlest perception of visualized images still sometimes persisting in the jhanas. The immaterial states are attained, not by refining mental factors as are the jhanas, but by refining objects, by replacing a relatively gross object with a subtler one. The four attainments are named after their respective objects: the base of infinite space, the base of infinite consciousness, the base of nothingness, and the base of neither-perception-nor-non-perception.[5] These states represent levels of concentration so subtle and remote as to elude clear verbal explanation. The last of the four stands at the apex of mental concentration; it is the absolute, maximum degree of unification possible for consciousness. But even so, these absorptions reached by the path of serenity meditation, as exalted as they are, still lack the wisdom of insight, and so are not yet sufficient for gaining deliverance.
The kinds of concentration discussed so far arise by fixing the mind upon a single object to the exclusion of other objects. But apart from these there is another kind of concentration which does not depend upon restricting the range of awareness. This is called "momentary concentration" (khanika-samadhi). To develop momentary concentration the meditator does not deliberately attempt to exclude the multiplicity of phenomena from his field of attention. Instead, he simply directs mindfulness to the changing states of mind and body, noting any phenomenon that presents itself; the task is to maintain a continuous awareness of whatever enters the range of perception, clinging to nothing. As he goes on with his noting, concentration becomes stronger moment after moment until it becomes established one-pointedly on the constantly changing stream of events. Despite the change in the object, the mental unification remains steady, and in time acquires a force capable of suppressing the hindrances to a degree equal to that of access concentration. This fluid, mobile concentration is developed by the practice of the four foundations of mindfulness, taken up along the path of insight; when sufficiently strong it issues in the breakthrough to the last stage of the path, the arising of wisdom.

Notes
1. In what follows I have to restrict myself to a brief overview. For a full exposition, see Vism., Chapters III-XI.
2. See Vism. IV, 88-109.
3. Some common renderings such as "trance," "musing," etc., are altogether misleading and should be discarded.
4. DN 22; Word of the Buddha, pp. 80-81.
5. In Pali: akasanancayatana, vinnanancayatana, akincannayatana, n'eva-sanna-nasannayatana.

Source: https://www.vipassana.com/resources/8fp7.php

Discourses of the Ancient Nuns (Bhikkhuni Samyutta)

Discourses of the Ancient Nuns  (Bhikkhuni Samyutta)

Translated from the Pali by Bhikkhu Bodhi

Bodhi Leaves No: 143

The growing interest in women's spirituality has led to a renewed focus upon the Therigatha, the Verses of the Elder Nuns, as the oldest existing testament to the feminine experience of Buddhism.
Despite this recent attention to the Therigatha, however, it seems that all but a few scholarly commentators have overlooked a short chapter in the Samyutta Nikaya that serves as an important supplement to the larger work.
This is the Bhikkhuni-samyutta, Chapter 5 of the Sagathavaggásamyutta, the Connected Discourses with Verses, Volume I of the Samyutta Nikaya.
The Bhikkhuni-samyutta is a compilation of ten short suttas in mixed prose and verse, with a total of thirty-seven verses. Though several of these verses have parallels in the Therigatha (mentioned in the notes), a significant number don't, and often the variations in roughly parallel versions are themselves of intrinsic interest.
At least one nun in the Bhikkhuni-samyutta, Vajira, does not appear in the Therigatha, while the case of another nun, Sela, is problematic. A comparison between the two collections also brings to light some noteworthy differences in the ascription of authorship; in one case — that of the three Cala sisters — a three-way shuffling of ascriptions occurs. Such differences can be readily understood once we realize that the texts were originally transmitted orally for several centuries and thus were contingent on less durable factors than paper and ink.
Since the Samyutta Nikaya and the Therigatha were evidently transmitted by different lines of reciters, it was only too easy for verses to break off from their original narrative setting and merge with a different background story connecting them to a different author.
The antiquity of this collection is attested to by the fact that it has a counterpart in the Chinese translation of the Sanskrit Samyuktagama, which probably belonged to the Sarvastivada school. Anesaki's The Four Buddhist Agamas in Chinese gives a breakdown of the Chinese equivalent of the Bhikkhuni-samyutta, and though the order of suttas is different, the ten titles are almost identical, except that the Pali Sela Sutta is there entitled Viri (or Vira). This is strong evidence that the entire chapter had taken shape before the Pali and Sarvastivada schools went their separate ways.
All the ten suttas are constructed according to the same pattern, a direct confrontation between Mara the Evil One, the Lord of Sensuality, and an individual nun. This structure perhaps accounts for the placement of the Bhikkhuni-samyutta immediately after the Marásamyutta, in which the Evil One is shown trying to distract the Buddha and the monks.
In each sutta of our collection a nun goes off by herself to pass the day in solitary meditation. Then Mara approaches her with a challenge — a provocative question or a taunt — intending to make her fall away from concentration.
What Mara has failed to realize is that each of these nuns is an arahant and has seen so deeply into the truth of the Dhamma that she is utterly inaccessible to his wiles. Far from being flustered by Mara's challenge, the nun promptly guesses the identity of her adversary and overturns his challenge with a sharp reply.
Once Mara realizes that his number has been called he has no choice but to vanish on the spot, "sad and disappointed."
In a dialogue that brings together the Lord of Sensuality with a solitary nun one might expect each of Mara's overtures to be aimed at sexual seduction. This, however, is so only in several suttas. The actual themes of the discourses vary and expose us to a broad range of perspectives on the attitudes and insights of the renunciant life.
The contrast between the allurement and misery of sensual pleasures is the theme of § § 1, 4, and 5. In §1, Mara does not himself attempt to seduce the nun but only urges her to enjoy sense pleasures before her time runs out; in §4 he assumes the guise of a handsome youth who lavishes his seductive charms on the beautiful Vijaya; and in §5 he almost threatens to rape the nun Uppalavanna, who had actually been raped soon after her ordination by an infatuated youth. In all three cases the nuns sharply rebuke Mara with verses that reveal their utter indifference to his solicitations.
In §3, Mara approaches Kisagotami, the heroine of the well-known parable of the mustard seed, trying to arouse her maternal instincts to beget another son. His challenge thus touches on sensuality only indirectly. His primary appeal is aimed at awakening the feminine desire for children.
Mara's dialogue with Soma (§2) voices the ancient Indian prejudice that women are endowed with "mere two-fingered wisdom" (an obscure expression that tries the ingenuity of the commentators), and thus cannot attain Nibbana, a goal reserved for males. Soma's rejoinder is a forceful reminder that enlightenment does not depend on gender but on the mind's capacity for concentration and wisdom, qualities accessible to any human being who earnestly seeks to penetrate the truth.
In § §6, 7, and 8 we meet the three Cala sisters, the younger sisters of the Venerable Sariputta. From these three nuns Mara tries to elicit, respectively, an affirmation of birth (i.e., of life in general), of rebirth in the heavenly realms, and of heretical views.
In each case the nun replies with appropriate verses exposing the dangers in birth, in the entire triple world, and in the systems of the non-Buddhist thinkers.
The last two suttas are philosophical masterpieces, compressing into a few tight stanzas insights of enormous depth and wide implications. Full appreciation of their richness and power would require extensive acquaintance with the whole corpus of early Buddhist texts, particularly the Samyutta Nikaya chapters on dependent origination (No. 12) and the five aggregates (No. 22).
In §9, Mara challenges Sela with a question on the origins of personal existence. She replies with a masterly poem that condenses the whole teaching of dependent origination into three four-line stanzas, adorned with an illuminating simile.
In §10 he poses a similar problem to Vajira, who answers with a stunning exposition of the teaching of non-self, illustrating the composite nature of personal identity with the simile of the chariot. This simile was popularized by the famous Milindapañha, but Vajira's simpler version has an incisive edge that is blunted by the bombastic tone of the later work.
Though set against a mythological background in an ancient world whose customs and norms seem so remote from our own, these poems of the nuns of old still speak to us today through their sheer simplicity and uncompromising honesty.
They need no ornamentation or artifice to convey their message but startle us with the clarity of unadorned truth. Emerging from the depths of indubitable personal realization, crackling with insight, they point unwaveringly toward the rugged path of renunciation and wisdom that leads to the end of suffering.
The present translation is based primarily upon the Burmese script Chatthasangayana edition of the Samyutta Nikaya (Be), though I also consulted the Sinhala script Buddha Jayanti edition (Ce) and the PTS's Roman script edition (Ee). Numbers in square brackets are the page numbers of the PTS edition.
*
Discourses of the Ancient Nuns Bhikkhuni-samyutta (Samyutta Nikaya, Book V)
1. Alavika
[128] Thus have I heard. On one occasion the Blessed One was dwelling at Savatthi in Jeta's Grove, Anathapindika's Park.
Then, in the morning, the bhikkhuni Alavika dressed and, taking bowl and robe, entered Savatthi for alms.1 When she had walked for alms in Savatthi and had returned from her alms round, after her meal she went to the Blind Men's Grove seeking seclusion.2
Then Mara the Evil One, desiring to arouse fear, trepidation, and terror in the bhikkhuni Alavika, desiring to make her fall away from seclusion, approached her and addressed her in verse:
1. "There is no escape in the world, So what will you do with seclusion? Enjoy the delights of sensual pleasure: Don't be remorseful later!"
Then it occurred to the bhikkhuni Alavika: "Now who is it that recited the verse — a human being or a non-human being?" Then it occurred to her: "This is Mara the Evil One, who has recited the verse desiring to arouse fear, trepidation, and terror in me, desiring to make me fall away from seclusion."
Then the bhikkhuni Alavika, having understood, "This is Mara the Evil One," replied to him in verses:
2. "There is an escape in the world Which I have closely touched with wisdom. O Evil One, kinsman of the negligent, You do not know that state.3
3. Sensual pleasures are like sword stakes; The aggregates, their chopping block. What you call sensual delight Has become for me non-delight."4 [129]
Then Mara the Evil One, realizing, "The bhikkhuni Alavika knows me," sad and disappointed, disappeared right there.
2. Soma
Setting at Savatthi. Then, in the morning, the bhikkhuni Soma dressed and, taking bowl and robe, entered Savatthi for alms.5 When she had walked for alms in Savatthi and had returned from her alms round, after her meal she went to the Blind Men's Grove for the day's abiding. Having plunged into the Blind Men's Grove, she sat down at the foot of a tree for the day's abiding.
Then Mara the Evil One, desiring to arouse fear, trepidation, and terror in the bhikkhuni Soma, desiring to make her fall away from concentration, approached her and addressed her in verse:
4. "That state so hard to achieve Which is to be attained by the seers, Can't be attained by a woman With her two-fingered wisdom."6
Then it occurred to the bhikkhuni Soma: "Now who is this that recited the verse — a human being or a non-human being?" Then it occurred to her: "This is Mara the Evil One, who has recited the verse desiring to arouse fear, trepidation, and terror in me, desiring to make me fall away from concentration."
Then the bhikkhuni Soma, having understood, "This is Mara the Evil One," replied to him in verses:
5. "What does womanhood matter at all When the mind is concentrated well, When knowledge flows on steadily As one sees correctly into Dhamma.7
6. One to whom it might occur, 'I'm a woman' or 'I'm a man' Or 'I'm anything at all' — Is fit for Mara to address."8
Then Mara the Evil One, realizing, "The bhikkhuni Soma knows me," sad and disappointed, disappeared right there.
3. Gotami
Setting at Savatthi. Then, in the morning, the bhikkhuni Kisagotami dressed and, taking bowl and robe, entered Savatthi for alms.9 When she had walked for alms in Savatthi and had returned from her alms round, [130] after her meal she went to the Blind Men's Grove for the day's abiding. Having plunged into the Blind Men's Grove, she sat down at the foot of a tree for the day's abiding.
Then Mara the Evil One, desiring to arouse fear, trepidation, and terror in the bhikkhuni Kisagotami, desiring to make her fall away from concentration, approached her and addressed her in verse:
7. "Why now, when your son is dead, Do you sit alone with tearful face? Having entered the woods all alone, Are you on the lookout for a man?"
Then it occurred to the bhikkhuni Kisagotami: "Now who is this that recited the verse — a human being or a non-human being?" Then it occurred to her: "This is Mara the Evil One, who has recited the verse desiring to arouse fear, trepidation, and terror in me, desiring to make me fall away from concentration."
Then the bhikkhuni Kisagotami, having understood, "This is Mara the Evil One," replied to him in verses:
8."I've gotten past the death of sons; With this, the search for men has ended. I do not sorrow, I do not weep, Nor do I fear you, friend.10
9. Darkness has been sundered. Having conquered the army of Death, I dwell without defiling taints. 10. Then Mara the Evil One, realizing, "The bhikkhuni Kisagotami knows me," sad and disappointed, disappeared right there.
4. Vijaya
Setting at Savatthi. Then, in the morning, the bhikkhuni Vijaya dressed... she sat down at the foot of a tree for the day's abiding.12
Then Mara the Evil One, desiring to arouse fear, trepidation, and terror in the bhikkhuni Vijaya,
desiring to make her fall away from concentration, approached her and addressed her in verse: [131]
10. "You are so young and beautiful, And I too am in the bloom of youth. Come, noble lady, let us rejoice With the music of a fivefold ensemble."
Then it occurred to the bhikkhuni Vijaya: "Now who is this...? This is Mara the Evil One... desiring to make me fall away from concentration."
Then the bhikkhuni Vijaya, having understood, "This is Mara the Evil One," replied to him in verses:
11. "Forms and sounds, tastes and odors, Tactile objects that delight the mind: I offer them right back to you, For I, O Mara, do not need them.
12. I am repelled and humiliated By this foul, putrid body, Subject to break up, fragile: I've uprooted sensual craving.
13. As to those beings who fare amidst form, And those who abide in the formless, And those peaceful attainments too: Everywhere darkness has been destroyed."13
Then Mara the Evil One, realizing "The bhikkhuni Vijaya knows me," sad and disappointed, disappeared right there.
5. Uppalavanna
Setting at Savatthi. Then, in the morning, the bhikkhuni Uppalavanna dressed... she stood at the foot of a sala tree in full flower.14
Then Mara the Evil One, desiring to arouse fear, trepidation, and terror in the bhikkhuni Uppalavanna, desiring to make her fall away from concentration, approached her and addressed her in verse:
14. "Having gone to a sala tree with flowering top, You stand at its foot all alone, bhikkhuni. There is none whose beauty can rival your own: Foolish girl, have you no fear of rogues?"15
Then it occurred to the bhikkhuni Uppalavanna: [132] "Now who is this...? This is Mara the Evil One... desiring to make me fall away from concentration."
Then the bhikkhuni Uppalavanna, having understood, "This is Mara the Evil One," replied to him in verses:
15. "Though a hundred thousand rogues Just like you might come here, I stir not a hair, I feel no terror; Even alone, Mara, I don't fear you.16
16. I can make myself disappear Or I can enter inside your belly. I can stand between your eyebrows Yet you won't catch a glimpse of me.
17. I am the master of my own mind, The bases of power are well developed; I am freed from every kind of bondage, Therefore I don't fear you, friend."17
Then Mara the Evil One, realizing, "The bhikkhuni Uppalavanna knows me," sad and disappointed, disappeared right there.
6. Cala
Setting at Savatthi. Then, in the morning, the bhikkhuni Cala dressed... she sat down at the foot of a tree for the day's abiding.18
Then Mara the Evil One approached the bhikkhuni Cala and said to her: "What don't you approve of, bhikkhuni?"
"I don't approve of birth, friend."
18. "Why don't you approve of birth? Once born, one enjoys sensual pleasures. Who now has persuaded you of this: 'Bhikkhuni, don't approve of birth'?" 19. "For one who is born there is death; Once born, one encounters sufferings — Bondage, murder, affliction — Hence one shouldn't approve of birth.
20. The Buddha has taught the Dhamma, The transcendence of birth; For the abandoning of all suffering He has settled me in the truth. [133]
21. As to those beings who fare amidst form, And those who abide in the formless — Not having understood cessation, They come again to re-becoming."19
Then Mara the Evil One, realizing, "The bhikkhuni Cala knows me," sad and disappointed, disappeared right there.
7. Upacala
Setting at Savatthi. Then, in the morning, the bhikkhuni Upacala dressed... she sat down at the foot of a tree for the day's abiding.
Then Mara the Evil One approached the bhikkhuni Upacala and said to her: "Where do you wish to be reborn, bhikkhuni?"
"I do not wish to be reborn anywhere, friend."
22. "There are Tavatimsa and Yama devas, And devatas of the Tusita realm, Devas who take delight in creating, And devas who exercise control. Direct your mind there And you'll experience delight."20
22. "There are Tavatimsa and Yama devas, And devatas of the Tusita realm, Devas who take delight in creating, And devas who exercise control. They are still bound by sensual bondage, They come again under Mara's control.
24.  All the world is on fire, All the world is burning, All the world is ablaze, All the world is quaking.
25. That which does not quake or blaze, That to which worldlings do not resort,
26. Where there is no place for Mara: That is where my mind delights."
Then Mara the Evil One, realizing, "The bhikkhuni Upacala knows me," sad and disappointed, disappeared right there.
8. Sisupacala
Setting at Savatthi. Then, in the morning, the bhikkhuni Sisupacala dressed... she sat down at the foot of a tree for the day's abiding.
Then Mara the Evil One approached the bhikkhuni Sisupacala and said to her: "Whose creed do you approve of, bhikkhuni?"
"I don't approve of anyone's creed, friend."
26. "Under whom have you shaved your head? You do appear to be a recluse, Yet you don't approve of any creed, So why wander as if bewildered?"21
27. "Outside here the followers of creeds Place their confidence in views. I don't approve of their teachings; They are not skilled in the Dhamma. [134]
28. But there is a scion of the Sakyan clan, The Enlightened One, without an equal, Conqueror of all, Mara's subduer, Who everywhere is undefeated.
29. Everywhere freed and unattached, The One with Vision who sees all, Who attained the end of all kamma, Released in the extinction of acquisitions: That Blessed One is my Teacher; His is the teaching I approve."22
Then Mara the Evil One, realizing, "The bhikkhuni Sisupacala knows me," sad and disappointed, disappeared right there.
9. Sela
Setting at Savatthi. Then, in the morning, the bhikkhuni Sela dressed... she sat down at the foot of a tree for the day's abiding.23
Then Mara the Evil One, desiring to arouse fear, trepidation, and terror in the bhikkhuni Sela, desiring to make her fall away from concentration, approached her and addressed her in verse:
30. "By whom has this puppet been created? Where is the maker of the puppet? Where has the puppet arisen? Where does the puppet cease?"24
Then it occurred to the bhikkhuni Sela: "Now who is this...? This is Mara the Evil One... desiring to make me fall away from concentration."
Then the bhikkhuni Sela, having understood, "This is Mara the Evil One," replied to him in verses:
31. "This puppet is not made by itself, Nor is this misery made by another. It has come to be dependent on a cause, When the cause dissolves then it will cease.
32. As when a seed is sown in a field It grows depending on a pair of factors: It requires both the soil's nutrients And a steady supply of moisture.
33. Just so the aggregates and elements, And these six bases of sensory contact, Have come to be dependent on a cause; When the cause dissolves they will cease."25
Then Mara the Evil One, realizing, "The bhikkhuni Sela knows me," sad and disappointed, disappeared right there.
10. Vajira
Setting at Savatthi. Then, in the morning, the bhikkhuni Vajira dressed and, taking bowl and robe, entered Savatthi for alms.26 When she had walked for alms in Savatthi [135] and had returned from her alms round, after her meal she went to the Blind Men's Grove for the day's abiding. Having plunged into the Blind Men's Grove, she sat down at the foot of a tree for the day's abiding.
Then Mara the Evil One, desiring to arouse fear, trepidation, and terror in the bhikkhuni Vajira, desiring to make her fall away from concentration, approached her and addressed her in verse:
"By whom has this being been created? Where is the maker of the being? Where has the being arisen? Where does the being cease?"
Then it occurred to the bhikkhuni Vajira: "Now who is this that recited the verse — a human being or a non-human being?" Then it occurred to her: "This is Mara the Evil One, who has recited the verse desiring to arouse fear, trepidation, and terror in me, desiring to make me fall away from concentration."
Then the bhikkhuni Vajira, having understood, "This is Mara the Evil One," replied to him in verses:
35. "Why now do you assume 'a being'? Mara, have you grasped a view? This is a heap of sheer constructions: Here no being is found.
36. Just as, with an assemblage of parts, The word 'chariot' is used, So, when the aggregates are present, There's the convention 'a being.'
37. It's only suffering that comes to be, Suffering that stands and falls away. Nothing but suffering comes to be, Nothing but suffering ceases."27
Then Mara the Evil One, realizing, "The bhikkhuni Vajira knows me," sad and disappointed, disappeared right there.

Notes
Key to Abbreviations:
AN — Anguttara Nikaya
Be — Burmese script edition (Sixth Council)
BL — Buddhist Legends (trans. of DhpA)
Ce — Sinhala script edition (Buddha Jayanti) DhpA — Dhammapada Atthakatha
Ee — European edition (PTS)
EV II — Elders' Verses II (trans. of Thi)
SN — Samyutta Nikaya
SA — Samyutta Nikaya Atthakatha
ST — Samyutta Nikaya Tika
Thi — Therigatha ThiA— Therigatha Atthakatha (Ee) Vism — Visuddhimagga

1. Thi does not ascribe any verses to a bhikkhuni named Alavika, but two of the verses in this sutta are to be found among Sela's verses: v.1 = Thi 57 and v.3 = Thi 58. ThiA 64 confirms the identity of the two bhikkhunis, explaining that Sela was called Alavika because she was the daughter of the king of Alavaka. She heard the Buddha preach and became a lay follower. Later she took ordination as a nun and attained arahantship.
2. SA: Bhikkhus and bhikkhunis went there for seclusion. It was about three kilometers south of Savatthi and was protected by royal guards.
3. Strangely, this verse, the appropriate response to Mara's taunt, is not found in Thi. SA: The escape (nissarana) is Nibbana. With wisdom (pañña): with reviewing knowledge. ST: The intention is: "How much more, then, with the knowledge of the path and fruit?"
4. In pada b, khandhasam should be resolved khandha esam. SA glosses khandha tesam. See EV II, n.58.
5. ThiA 66 identifies her as the daughter of King Bimbisara's chaplain. The three verses here are also at Thi 60-62, also ascribed to Soma.
6. SA: That state (thana): arahantship. With her two-fingered wisdom (dvangulapaññaya): with limited wisdom (parittapaññaya); or else this is said of women because they cut the thread while holding the cotton ball between two fingers. ST and ThiA 67 offer a different explanation: "From childhood on they are always determining whether the rice is cooked by pressing the grains in the pot between two fingers. Therefore, because of the feebleness of their wisdom (acquired with two fingers), they are said to have 'two-fingered wisdom.'" It should be noted that it is Mara the Evil One who voices this ancient bias.
7. SA: When knowledge flows on steadily (ñanamhi vattamanamhi): while the knowledge of the attainment of fruition is occurring (phalasamapattiñane pavattamane). As one sees correctly into Dhamma (samma dhammam vipassato): seeing into the Dhamma of the four truths, or into the five aggregates which form the object of insight in the preliminary phase of practice.
SA explains in terms of the knowledge of fruition attainment because Soma, being already an arahant, would have been dwelling in the concentration of fruition.
8. One entertains such thoughts on account of craving, conceit, and views.
9. SA recapitulates the popular story of her search for the mustard seeds to bring her dead son back to life, told in greater detail at DhpA II 270-75; see BL 2:257-60. Her verses at Thi 213-23 do not correspond to the verses here.
10. Padas ab read: Accantam mataputtamhi/Purisa etadantika. A pun seems to be intended between two senses of being "past the death of sons." I translate in accordance with the paraphrase of SA: "I have 'gotten past the death of sons' as one for whom the death of a son is over and done with. Now I will never again undergo the death of a son... The ending of the death of sons is itself the ending of men. Now it is impossible for me to seek a man."
11. SA elaborates: "The delight of craving has been destroyed for me in regard to all the aggregates, sense bases, elements, kinds of becoming, modes of origin, destinations, stations, and abodes. The mass of ignorance has been broken up by knowledge."
12. ThiA 159 explains that in lay life she had been a friend of Khema, the chief consort of King Bimbisara. When she heard that Khema had gone forth under the Buddha, she visited her and was so inspired by their conversation that she too decided to take ordination. Khema became her preceptor. Her verses are at Thi 169-74. While the verses here are not among them, interestingly vv. 10 and 12 (with minor differences) are found among Khema's verses, Thi 139 and 140.
13. SA: Pada a refers to the form realm, pada b to the formless realm, and pada c to the eight mundane meditative attainments. By the mention of the two higher realms, the sensory realm is also implied. Hence in pada d she says, "everywhere the darkness of ignorance has been dispelled."
14. She was the foremost among the bhikkhunis in the exercise of supernormal powers (iddhi), to which she testifies in her verses below. Vv.14-17 correspond to Thi 230-33, but with significant differences. Thi 234 is identical with v.3, here ascribed to Alavika.
15. Pada c: Na c'atthi te dutiya vannadhatu. I translate freely in accordance with the gloss of SA: "There is no second beauty element like your beauty element; there is no other bhikkhuni similar to you." A pun on the bhikkhuni's name is probably intended. Ee includes an additional pada between padas c and d of the other eds., which seems a scribal error, as it is identical with pada b of the next verse, where it belongs.
16. SA explains padas ab as if they meant: "Though a hundred thousand rogues might come here, they would be treated just like you in that they would get no intimacy or affection." I translate, however, in accordance with the apparent sense, which also can claim support from ThiA's gloss on Thi 231.
17. The iddhipada, "bases of power," are the supporting conditions for the exercise of the iddhi or supernormal powers described in the previous verse.
18. Cala, Upacala, and Sisupacala — whose verses are at § §6-8 respectively — were the younger sisters of Sariputta, in descending order of age. Their verses are found at Thi 182-88, 189-95, and 196-203. However, not only is the correspondence between the two collections fragmentary, but the ascriptions of authorship also differ. Cala's v.19 corresponds to Thi 191, and v.20 is reflected obscurely in Thi 192, both of which are there ascribed to Upacala. Upacala's vv.22-25 correspond to Thi 197, 198, 200, and 201, there ascribed to Sisupacala. And Sisupacala's vv.26-28 correspond to Thi 183-85, but there are ascribed to Cala.
19. On padas ab, see n.13.
20. This verse alludes to five of the six sense-sphere heavens. Only the lowest plane, the heaven of the Four Great Kings, is not mentioned.
21. Pasanda, in pada c, refers to the "heretical" systems outside the Buddha's dispensation. I render it, inadequately, as "creed." SA explains the word derivation by way of "folk etymology": "They are called pasanda because they lay out a snare (Be: pasam denti; Ce: pasam oddenti); the meaning is that they throw out the snare of views among the minds of beings. But the Buddha's dispensation frees one from the snare, so it is not called pasanda; the pasanda are found only outside the dispensation." SED defines pasanda as "a heretic... anyone who falsely assumes the characteristics of an orthodox Hindu, a Jaina, a Buddhist, etc.; a false doctrine, heresy."
22. SA explains vimutto upadhisankhaye in pada d thus: "He is released into Nibbana, known as the extinction of acquisitions, as object."
23. There is no way to determine whether this bhikkhuni is identical with Alavika; see n.1. The verses do not appear in Thi.
24. SA: Both puppet (bimba) here, and misery (agha) at v.31b, refer to individual existence (or: the body; attabhava), in the latter case because individual existence is a foundation for suffering.
25. One key to the interpretation of Sela's reply is the Bhava Sutta (AN I 223-24), where it is stated that for beings hemmed in by ignorance and fettered by craving, kamma is the field, consciousness the seed, and craving the moisture, for the production of future re-becoming. The cause (hetu), then, would be the kammically constructive consciousness accompanied by ignorance and craving. When that dissolves through the elimination of ignorance and craving, there is no establishing of consciousness in a new existence, and thus no production of aggregates, elements, and bases in a future life. See too in this connection SN 12:38-40 and SN 22:54, which also shed light on these verses.
26. SA provides no personal identification, and no verses in her name have come down in Thi.
27. The simile of the chariot is elaborated at Milindapañha 27-28, which quotes the previous verse. Visuddhimagga 18:28 also quotes these two verses to confirm that "there is no being apart from name-and-form."
In v.37 suffering signifies the inherent unsatisfactoriness of the five aggregates (pañcakkhandhadukkha), which is identical with the heap of sheer constructions (suddhasankharapuñja) in v.36c. For clarification, see the lines from the famous Kaccanagotta Sutta (SN 12:15): "This world, Kaccana, is for the most part shackled by engagement, clinging, and adherence. But this one (with right view) does not become engaged and cling through that engagement and clinging, mental standpoint, adherence, underlying tendency; he does not take a stand about 'my self.' He has no perplexity or doubt that what arises is only suffering arising; what ceases is only suffering ceasing. His knowledge about this is independent of others. It is in this way, Kaccana, that there is right view."

Copyright © Kandy; Buddhist Publication Society, (1997) BPS Online Edition © (2006) Digital Transcription Source: Access to Insight Dhamma Transcription Project

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The Taste of Freedom by Bhikkhu Bodhi

The Taste of Freedom by Bhikkhu Bodhi

The clarion call of our present age is, without doubt, the call for freedom. Perhaps at no time in the past history of mankind so much as at present has the cry for freedom sounded so widely and so urgently, perhaps never before has it penetrated so deeply into the fabric of human existence.

In response to man's quest for freedom, far-reaching changes have been wrought in almost every sphere of his activity — political, social, cultural and religious.

The vast empires which once sprawled over the earth, engulfing like huge mythical sea-monsters the continents in their grasp, have crumbled away and disintegrated, as the peoples over whom they reigned have risen up to repossess their native lands — in the name of independence, liberty and self-rule.

Old political forms such as monarchy and oligarchy have given way to democracy — government by the people — because every man has the right to contribute his voice to the direction of his collective life.

Long-standing social institutions which had kept man enthralled since before the dawn of history — slavery, serfdom, the caste-system — have now disappeared, or are rapidly disappearing, while accounts of liberation movements of one sort or another daily deck the headlines of our newspapers and crowd the pages of our popular journals.

The arts, too, bear testimony to this quest for greater freedom: free verse in poetry, abstract expression in painting, and atonal composition in music, are just a few of the innovations which have toppled restrictive traditional structures to give the artist open space in his drive for self-expression.

Even religion has not been able to claim immunity from this expanding frontier of liberation. No longer can systems of belief and codes of conduct justify themselves, as in the past, on the grounds that they are commanded by God, sanctified by scripture, or prescribed by the priesthood. They must now be prepared to stand out in the open, shorn of their veils of sanctity, exposed to the critical thrust of the contemporary thinker who assumes himself the right to free inquiry and takes his own reason and experience for his court of final appeal.

Freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and freedom of action have become watchwords of public life, freedom of thought and freedom of conscience the watchwords of our private life. In any form in which it obtains, freedom is guarded as our most precious possession, more valuable than life itself.

"Give me liberty or give me death," an American patriot exclaimed two hundred years ago. The succeeding centuries have echoed his demand.

As though in response to mankind's call for wider frontiers of freedom, the Buddha offers to the world His Teaching, the Dhamma, as a pathway to liberation as applicable today as it was when first proclaimed twenty-five centuries ago.

"Just as in the great ocean there is but one taste — the taste of salt — so in this Doctrine and Discipline (dhammavinaya) there is but one taste — the taste of freedom": with these words the Buddha vouches for the emancipating quality of His doctrine.

Whether one samples water taken from the surface of the ocean, or from its middling region, or from its depths, the taste of the water is in every case the same — the taste of salt. And again, whether one drinks but a thimble-full of ocean water, or a glass-full, or a bucket-full, the same salty taste is present throughout. Analogously with the Buddha's Teaching, a single flavor — the flavor of freedom (vimuttirasa) — pervades the entire Doctrine and Discipline, from its beginning to its end, from its gentle surface to its unfathomable depths. Whether one samples the Dhamma at its more elementary level — in the practice of generosity and moral discipline, in acts of devotion and piety, in conduct governed by reverence, courtesy, and loving-kindness; or at its intermediate level — in the taintless supramundane knowledge and deliverance realized by the liberated saint, in every case the taste is the same — the taste of freedom.

If one practices the Dhamma to a limited extent, leading a house-hold life in accordance with righteous principles, then one experiences in return a limited measure of freedom; if one practices the Dhamma to a fuller extent, going forth into the homeless state of monkhood, dwelling in seclusion
adorned with the virtues of a recluse, contemplating the rise and fall of all conditioned things, then one experiences a fuller measure of freedom; and if one practices the Dhamma to its consummation, realising in this present life the goal of final deliverance, then one experiences a freedom that is measureless.

At every level the flavor of the Teaching is of a single nature, the flavor of freedom. It is only the degree to which this flavor is enjoyed that differs, and the difference in degree is precisely proportional to the extent of one's practice.

Practice a little Dhamma and one reaps a little freedom, practice abundant Dhamma and one reaps abundant freedom. The Dhamma brings its own reward of freedom, always with the exactness of scientific law.

Since the Dhamma proposes to provide a freedom as complete and perfect as any the modern world might envisage, a fundamental congruence appears to obtain between man's aspiration for expanding horizons of liberty and the possibilities he might realize through the practice of the Buddha's Teaching.

Nevertheless, despite this concordance of ends, when our contemporaries first encounter the Dhamma they often find themselves confronted at the outset by one particular feature which, clashing with their familiar modes of thought, strikes them intellectually as a contradiction and emotionally as a stumbling block.

This is the fact that while the Dhamma purports to be a pathway to liberation, a Teaching pervaded throughout by 'the taste of freedom,' it yet requires from its followers the practice of a regimen that seems the very antithesis of freedom — a regimen built upon discipline, restraint, and self-control.

"On the one hand we seek freedom," our contemporaries object, "and on the other we are told that to reach this freedom our deeds, words, and thoughts must be curbed and controlled."
What are we to make of this astonishing thesis the Buddha's Teaching appears to advance: that to achieve freedom, freedom must be curtailed? Can freedom as an end really be achieved by means that involve the very denial of freedom?

The solution to this seeming paradox lies in the distinction between two kinds of freedom — between freedom as license and freedom as spiritual autonomy: –

Contemporary man, for the most part, identifies freedom with license. For him, freedom means the license to pursue undisturbed his impulses, passions and whims. To be free, he believes, he must be at liberty to do whatever he wants, to say whatever he wants and to think whatever he wants. Every restriction laid upon this license he sees as an encroachment upon his freedom; hence a practical regimen calling for restraint of deed, word, and thought, for discipline and self-control, strikes him as a form of bondage.

But the freedom spoken of in the Buddha's Teaching is not the same as license. The freedom to which the Buddha points is spiritual freedom — an inward autonomy of the mind which follows upon the destruction of the defilements, manifests itself in an emancipation from the mold of impulsive and compulsive patterns of behavior, and culminates in final deliverance from samsara, the round of repeated birth and death.

In contrast to license, spiritual freedom cannot be acquired by external means. It can only be attained inwardly, through a course of training requiring the renunciation of passion and impulse in the interest of a higher end. The spiritual autonomy that emerges from this struggle is the ultimate triumph over all confinement and self-limitation; but the victory can never be achieved without conforming to the requirements of the contest — requirements that include restraint, control, discipline and, as the final price, the surrender of self-assertive desire.

In order to bring this notion of freedom into clearer focus, let us approach it via its opposite condition, the state of bondage, and begin by considering a case of extreme physical confinement.
Suppose there is a man locked away in a prison, in a cell with dense stone walls and sturdy steel bars.

He is tied to a chair — his wrists bound together by rope behind his back, his feet locked in shackles, his eyes covered by a blindfold and his mouth by a gag. Suppose that one day the rope is unfastened, the shackles loosened, the blindfold and gag removed. Now the man is at liberty to move about the cell, to stretch his limbs, to speak, and to see. But though at first he might imagine that he is free, it would not take him long to realize that true freedom is still as distant as the clear blue sky beyond the stoned and steel bars of his cell.

But suppose, next, that we release the man from prison, set him up as a middle-class householder, and restore to him his full body of rights as a citizen of the state. Now he can enjoy the social and political freedom he lacked as a prisoner; he can vote, work, and travel as he likes, can even hold public office. But there still remains — in the form of his responsibilities, his burden of duties, his limitations of power, pleasure, and prestige — a painful discrepancy between the freedom of mastery for which he might personally yearn, and the actuality of the situation which circumstances has doled out to him as his drearisome lot. So let us, as a further step, lift our man up from this middle-class routine, and install him, to his pleasant surprise upon the throne of a world monarch, a universal emperor exercising sovereignty over all the earth. Let us place him in a magnificent palace,
surrounded by a hundred wives more beautiful than lotus-flowers, possessed of limitless resources of gold, land, and gems, endowed with the most sublime pleasures of the five senses. All power is his, all enjoyment, fame, glory, and wealth. He needs only express his will for it to be taken as command, need only utter a wish for it to be translated into deed. No obstruction to his freedom of license remains. But still the question stands: is he truly free? Let us consider the issue at a deeper level.

Three kinds of feelings have been pointed out by the Buddha: pleasant feeling, painful feeling, and neutral feeling, i.e., feeling which is neither pleasant nor painful. These three classes exhaust the totality of feeling, and one feeling of one class must be present on any given occasion of experience.

Again, three mental factors have been singled out by the Buddha as the subjective counterparts of the three classes of feeling and described by him as anusaya, latent tendencies which have been lying dormant in the subconscious mental continua of sentient beings since beginningless time, always ready to crop up into a state of manifestation when an appropriate stimulus is encountered, and to subside again into the state of dormancy when the impact of the stimulus has worn off.

These three mental factors are lust (raga), repugnance (patigha), and ignorance (avijja), psychological equivalents of the unwholesome roots of greed (lobha), hatred (dosa), and delusion (moha). When a worldling, with a mind untrained in the higher course of mental discipline taught by the Buddha, experiences a pleasant feeling, then the latent tendency to lust springs up in response — a desire to possess and enjoy the object serving as stimulus for the pleasant feeling. When a worldling experiences a painful feeling, then the latent tendency to repugnance comes into play, an aversion toward the cause of the pain. And when a worldling experiences a neutral feeling, then the latent tendency to ignorance — present but recessive on occasions of lust and aversion — rises to prominence, shrouding the worldling's consciousness in a cloak of dull apathy.

On whatever occasion the three latent tendencies to lust, repugnance, and ignorance are provoked by their corresponding feelings from their dormant condition into a state of activity, if a man does not make an effort to dispel them, does not strive to restrain, remove, and abandon them and bring them to nought, then they will persist in consciousness. If, as they persist in consciousness, he repeatedly yields to them, endorses them, and continues to cling to them, they will gather momentum, come to growth, and like a ball of flame flung upon a haystack, flare up from their initial phase as feeble impulses into powerful obsessions which usurp from a man his capacity for self-control. Then, even if a man be, like our hypothetical subject, an emperor over the earth, he is inwardly no longer his own master but a servant at the bidding of his own defilements of mind.

Under the dominance of lust he is drawn to the pleasant, under the dominance of hate he is repelled by the painful, under the dominance of delusion he is confused by the neutral. He is bent up by happiness, bent down by sorrow, elated by gain, honor, and praise, dejected by loss, dishonor, and blame. Even though he perceives that a particular course of action can lead only to his harm, he is powerless to avoid it; even though he knows that an alternative course of action is clearly to his advantage, he is unable to pursue it. Swept on by the current of unabandoned defilements, he is driven from existence to existence through the ocean of samsara, with its waves of birth and death, its whirlpools of misery and despair. Outwardly, he may be a ruler over all the world, but in the court of consciousness he is still a prisoner. In terms of license he may be completely free, but in terms of spiritual autonomy he remains a victim of bondage in its most desperate form: bondage to the workings of a defiled mind.

Spiritual freedom, as the opposite of this condition of bondage, must therefore mean freedom from lust, hatred, and delusion. When lust, hatred, and delusion are abandoned in a man, cut off at the root so that they no longer remain even in latent form, then a man finds for himself a seat of autonomy from which he can never be dethroned, a position of mastery from which he can never be shaken.

Even though he be a mendicant gathering his alms from house to house, he is still a king; even though he be locked behind bars of steel, he is inwardly free. He is now sovereign over his own mind, and as such over the whole universe; for nothing in the universe can take from him that deliverance of heart which is his inalienable possession. He dwells in the world among the things of the world, yet stands in perfect poise above the world's ebb and flow. If pleasant objects come within range of his perception he does not yearn for them, if painful objects come into range he does not recoil from them. He looks upon both with equanimity and notes their rise and fall. Toward the pairs of opposites which keep the world in rotation he is without concern, the cycle of attraction and repulsion he has broken at its base. A lump of gold and a lump of clay are to his eyes the same; praise and scorn are to his ears empty sounds. He abides in the freedom he has won through long and disciplined effort. He is free from suffering, for with the defilements uprooted no more can sorrow or grief fall upon his heart; there remains only that perfect bliss unsullied by any trace of craving.

He is free from fear, from the chill of anxiety which even kings know in their palaces, protected by bodyguards inside and out. And he is free from disease, from the sickness of the passions vexing and feverish that tie the mind in knots, from the sickness of samsara with its rounds of defilement, action, and result. He passes his days in peace, pervading the world with a mind of boundless compassion, enjoying the bliss of emancipation, or teaching fellow way-farers the path he himself has followed to the goal, in the calm certain knowledge that for him the beginningless trail of repeated births and deaths has been brought to a close, that he has reached the pinnacle of holiness and effected the cessation of all future becoming.

In its fullness, the freedom to which the Buddha points as the goal of His Teaching can only be enjoyed by him who has made the realization of the goal a matter of his own living experience. But just as salt lends its taste to whatever food it is used to season, so does the taste of freedom pervade the entire range of the Doctrine and Discipline proclaimed by the Buddha, its beginning, its middle, and its end.

Whatever our degree of progress may be in the practice of the Dhamma, to that extent may the taste of freedom be enjoyed. It must always be borne in mind, however, that true freedom — the inward autonomy of the mind — does not descend as a gift of grace. It can only be won by the practice of the path to freedom, the Noble Eightfold Path.

Source: Bodhi Leaves Publication No. 71 (Kandy: Buddhist Publication Society, 1976). Transcribed from the print edition in 1994 by W.D. Savage under the auspices of the DharmaNet Dharma Book Transcription Project, with the kind permission of the Buddhist Publication Society.

Copyright © 1976, 1994 Buddhist Publication Society
Access to Insight edition © 1994

For free distribution. This work may be republished, reformatted, reprinted, and redistributed in any medium. It is the author's wish, however, that any such republication and redistribution be made available to the public on a free and unrestricted basis and that translations and other derivative works be clearly marked as such.