成實論

CHAPTER 117: THE TEN PATHS OF GOODNESS

The ten paths of wholesome karma—namely, abstaining from killing through right view—are ten practices included within the discipline of moral restraint. At one time they may be subsumed under the restraint pertaining to the formless realm; at another time, abstention itself is called a path of wholesome karma and is therefore formless.

Question: Acts of merit such as reverence, generosity, and the like are paths of wholesome karma. Why, then, are only the abstentions called paths of karma?

Answer: Because abstention is supreme. These ten kinds of karma are superior to generosity and the like. Why is this so?

The meritorious rewards gained from generosity and the like do not equal those gained from observing the precepts. For example, when the human lifespan has declined to only ten years, it will increase again through the causal condition of abstaining from killing. Moreover, the ten unwholesome karmas are actual offenses; hence, abstaining from them is called genuine merit.

Furthermore, the final three kinds of wholesome karma are the foundation of all wholesome qualities; therefore, all wholesome acts such as generosity are included within these paths of karma. These paths of karma also include abstention from the rod, the staff, and the like. Because the preceding and subsequent teachings are stated together, all wholesome qualities are included within them.

CHAPTER 118: FAULTS AND DANGERS

Question: What faults and offenses arise from unwholesome karma?

Answer: Because of unwholesome karma, one undergoes the sufferings of the hells. As a sutra says: “Because of the causal condition of killing living beings, one falls into hell; if one is born in the human realm, one receives the retribution of a short life.” The same applies successively through wrong view. Moreover, because of the causal condition of unwholesome karma, one endures suffering and anguish for a long time. In the Avici hell, one passes through immeasurable years, and yet one’s lifespan there does not come to an end. Furthermore, all the evils, ruin, decline, and afflictions experienced by sentient beings arise from unwholesome karma. Never has unwholesomeness been seen to bring great benefit. Butchers, hunters, and the like never attain honor and nobility through such karma.

Perhaps you think that people become wealthy and honored through the causal condition of defeating enemies. This matter was already answered in the preceding chapter on the three kinds of karma. Moreover, those who perform unwholesome deeds suffer reproach and their share of anguish. Those who compel others to commit evil are called cruel and violent. Therefore, one must abandon such unwholesome karma.

A sutra also states that killing has five faults: “One is not trusted; one acquires an evil reputation; one becomes distant from the good and draws near to the wicked; at death one feels remorse; and afterward one falls into an evil realm.” Furthermore, because of killing, happiness is slight and suffering is abundant. The practice of unwholesome karma secretly taints and defiles the human mind; when accumulated over a long time, it becomes difficult to cure, life after life.

Moreover, those who do what is unwholesome pass from darkness into darkness, gradually drifting into the three evil destinies, with no day of escape. Those who do what is unwholesome also waste an entire human life, like someone who enters the Snow Mountains seeking medicine but gathers poisonous herbs instead. Is this not the height of foolishness?

Thus, it is only through these ten wholesome paths that one obtains a human body. Yet merely refraining from doing good is already a great misfortune—how much more so when one actively creates evil karma! Moreover, although those who do what is unwholesome seek to secure themselves, in truth they cannot secure themselves; although they seek to protect themselves, in truth they do not protect themselves, for by initiating karmic causes and conditions, they bring affliction and harm upon themselves. Such people cherish their bodies as though they were enemies or bandits, inflicting suffering upon themselves. If by performing unwholesome karma one becomes an enemy to oneself, how much more so to others?

Furthermore, although the retribution of unwholesome karma may not appear at present, one has already incurred it. Therefore, even a small evil should not be dismissed with disbelief. A small amount of poison can kill a person, and a small debt gradually accumulates interest. Moreover, when one harms others, they ordinarily do not forget it. Thus, even if the karma was created long ago, one should not disbelieve in it.

Those who do what is unwholesome are said to lose happiness, for through unwholesome conduct they lose the joyful fruits of birth among humans and devas. Not delighting in what is truly delightful is the conduct of a great fool. Moreover, those who do what is unwholesome suffer intensely and are worthy of pity: in the present life, their minds are tormented by remorse and every kind of suffering; in a future life, they undergo the sufferings of the evil realms. No one can escape the retribution of unwholesome karma, whether by flying into the sky or diving beneath the waters, just as the golden sword followed the Buddha through the air.

Furthermore, all unwholesome karma arises from delusion; therefore, the wise should not follow it. A sutra says: “Heedlessness is like an enemy capable of destroying wholesome dharmas; therefore, it should not be followed.” Unwholesome karma is censured by all Buddhas, bodhisattvas, arhats, sages and worthies, seers possessing the five superknowledges, and those who clearly understand offenses and merits. Therefore, it should not be committed.

Moreover, it is plainly seen that when a person’s evil mind blazes fiercely, the person’s thoughts become obscured and confused, filled with distress and anguish; even the person’s countenance changes so that others do not wish to look upon it. How much more is this so when such evil is enacted through body and speech! For all these reasons, one should know that unwholesome karma possesses immeasurably many faults and offenses.

CHAPTER 119: THE THREE KINDS OF KARMA

Among the three kinds of karma, which is weightier: bodily karma, verbal karma, or mental karma?

Question: Some say that bodily and verbal karma are weighty, whereas mental karma is not. Why is this so? Because bodily and verbal karma are definite and actual. For example, the five heinous offenses are all committed through body or speech. Moreover, body and speech can bring an act to completion. If someone forms the intention to kill a sentient being, the act must be accomplished through body or speech; mental karma alone cannot constitute the offense of killing. Likewise, merely forming the intention to build a monastery or stupa does not produce excellent merit and virtue.

Furthermore, if body and speech are absent, mental karma alone yields no retribution. If someone forms the intention, “I shall practice generosity,” but does not actually give, that person gains no merit from generosity. Moreover, an undertaking is not completed merely by forming the relevant intention. If someone resolves to hold a great assembly of giving but does not actually give, that person gains no merit from the assembly. Otherwise, karmic retribution would become confused.

Furthermore, according to the Vinaya, an intention alone does not constitute an offense. If mental karma were of great weight, why would it not constitute an offense? If one gained merit merely by forming an intention, merit would be easy to obtain. Why, then, would practitioners set aside this easy karma and cultivate generosity and other practices that are difficult to perform? Furthermore, if this were so, merit would be inexhaustible. If someone merely formed empty intentions without end, how could the object toward which they were directed ever be exhausted? It is because material possessions are limited that the resulting merit can be exhausted.

Moreover, merely forming an intention cannot harm or benefit another person. Hungry and thirsty sentient beings need food and drink; how could mental karma alone relieve them? Furthermore, worldly acts of harm and benefit are extremely numerous. Because the mind is light, restless, and difficult to subdue, there is no evil thought that does not arise. If one were to suffer severe harm merely because such thoughts arose, while gaining great benefit whenever a wholesome intention arose to perform meritorious karma, that would be far too easy.

Moreover, if mental karma were weighty, then whenever one formed the intention to kill, one would fall into hell. If so, what benefit would there be in long cultivating and accumulating the precepts and other practices? Furthermore, the wholesome merits and virtues of observing the precepts and the like would provide no security. Why? Because one would incur an offense as soon as a single such thought arose.

Moreover, a sutra says: “Bodily and verbal karma are coarse and therefore must be eliminated first.” By eliminating coarse afflictions, the mind attains samadhi. Furthermore, if merely giving rise to a lustful thought were already sexual misconduct, one ought to have violated the precept. But if giving rise to such a thought is not called sexual misconduct, then apart from this lustful thought, what other dharma could be called sexual misconduct?

Furthermore, the many actions that are initiated and performed all depend upon body and speech, not upon mental karma. For example, deceiving another person constitutes the offense of false speech only through verbal karma. Moreover, as previously explained, the offense of killing is constituted only when four conditions are complete: there is a sentient being; one perceives it as a sentient being; one has the intention to kill it; and one severs its life. Since the offense is constituted by these four factors, one should know that mental karma is not the weightier kind.

Furthermore, as the Buddha said: If a young child has cultivated loving-kindness from infancy, can that child perform evil karma or conceive evil karma? One should therefore know that evil consists only of bodily and verbal karma, not mental karma.

Answer: You say that bodily and verbal karma, rather than mental karma, is weighty. This is unreasonable. Why?

In the sutras the Buddha says: “Mind is the root of all dharmas. Mind is foremost; mind leads the way. When the mind thinks of good or evil, one then speaks or acts accordingly.” Therefore, it should be known that mental karma is weighty.

Moreover, because intentions differ, bodily and verbal karma also differ, being superior, middling, inferior, and so forth. Apart from the mind, there is no karma that will assuredly receive its retribution. The sutras also speak of seven kinds of pure merit, three of which employ mental karma alone.

The merit of these seven kinds of purity surpasses the merit of giving. Furthermore, loving-kindness is mental karma, and so the sutras say that a mind of loving-kindness receives great karmic fruit. As a sutra says: “Formerly, when I was seven years old, through cultivating loving-kindness, I did not return to this world for seven great kalpas.” Therefore, it should be known that mental karma is weighty.

Because it is weighty, it can pervade and encompass the entire world. Furthermore, mental karma is weighty, for through the karmic result of mental karma, one may live for eighty thousand great kalpas. Moreover, the power of mental karma surpasses bodily and verbal karma.

For example, if one who has cultivated good gives rise to wrong view when approaching death, one falls into hell; if one who has done evil gives rise to right view when approaching death, one is born in heaven. Therefore, it should be known that mental karma is of great weight. Furthermore, a sutra says: “Among all transgressions, wrong view is the gravest.” It also says: “If a person attains the highest right view in the world, then although that person may repeatedly undergo birth and death for hundreds of thousands of years, that person will never fall into an evil realm.” Moreover, the power of mental karma surpasses bodily and verbal karma.

As stated in the Hòa-lợi Sutra: “When a non-Buddhist seer once became enraged, he immediately destroyed the kingdom of Na-la-vu-đà.” Perilous places such as Đàn-đặc were all brought about by the anger of seers. Furthermore, mental karma can swiftly bring about its karmic result. As a sutra says: “If this person dies now, that person will immediately enter hell or immediately be born in heaven, just as a sword or spear leaves the hand.” Moreover, when this mental karma accumulates defilements, one may fall as far as Avici hell; when it accumulates pure wholesome dharmas, one may attain nirvana.

Furthermore, because the mind has karmic results, bodily and verbal actions also have karmic results; unintentional actions have no karmic result. Moreover, there is no karmic retribution from bodily and verbal actions apart from mental karma. When intention relies upon body and speech to perform wholesome or unwholesome acts, this is called bodily and verbal karma.

Apart from bodily and verbal karma, mental karma still has karmic results; but apart from mental karma, bodily and verbal karma have no karmic results. Therefore, it should be known that mental karma is weighty, not bodily and verbal karma.

You say that bodily and verbal karma are fixed and substantial, as the five heinous offenses are all committed through body and speech and are therefore called grave. This is unreasonable. Karma becomes grave because the intention is grave and the deed is grave, not because body and speech are inherently grave.

Furthermore, karma becomes fixed and substantial because the mind is resolute. Just as one enters the position of the true Dharma solely through the power of mind, so too the power of mind can fully constitute a heinous offense. If one acts without intention, then even if one happens to kill one’s parents, one does not incur a heinous offense.

Therefore, it should be known that body and speech have no independent power. You say that body and speech can complete the deed. This too is unreasonable.

A deed is called complete when the matter has been accomplished. For example, only after another person’s life has been taken does one incur the offense of killing, not merely when bodily and verbal action begins. Even for the matter to be accomplished, the power of mind is still required; therefore, completion is not due to body and speech.

You say that merely generating an intention has no karmic result. This is unreasonable. As a sutra says: “Because of generating a powerful intention, one is immediately born in heaven or immediately enters hell.” How, then, can you say that mental karma has no karmic result?

You say that a matter cannot be accomplished merely through a vow. This too is unreasonable, for there are people who, by generating a profound wholesome intention, obtain merit surpassing that of a great assembly of giving. You say that intention does not constitute an offense.

This too is incorrect. If one generates an evil intention, one immediately incurs an offense. As the Buddha taught, there are three kinds of offenses: bodily, verbal, and mental.

Therefore, it should be known that merely generating an evil intention is not without offense. Rules were not established concerning it only because they would be difficult to observe. The coarse offenses are restrained through observance of the precepts, while subtle offenses are eliminated only through meditation and other practices.

You say that merit and offenses associated with body and speech are easier to cultivate or avoid. This is unreasonable. Because the power of people’s minds is weak, they abandon what is easy and undertake what is difficult.

Practices such as loving-kindness produce exceedingly abundant merit, which cannot be matched by giving. It is only because beings possess weak wisdom and are unable to cultivate such mental karma as loving-kindness and compassion that they instead practice giving and make offerings of various kinds of incense, flowers, and requisites, for a pure mind is difficult to attain. You speak of inexhaustible merit.

This may be answered in the same way. If such a person possesses the power of wisdom, that person can attain inexhaustible wholesome dharmas. You say that mental karma neither harms nor benefits others.

This is unreasonable. Since all bodily and verbal karma is led by mental karma, body and speech cannot be called superior. Only that which can arise through its own power may be called superior.

Furthermore, all benefits arise from cultivating loving-kindness. Thus timely rain and favorable winds occur, and the hundred kinds of grain yield abundant harvests. At the beginning of the great kalpa, glutinous rice grew naturally; but when the maximum human lifespan declines to only ten years, all such blessings disappear.

How, then, can you say that a mind of loving-kindness brings no benefit?

Furthermore, one who cultivates loving-kindness can entirely eliminate the roots of unwholesome karma. Since all forms of decline and affliction arise from unwholesome karma, how can you say that cultivating loving-kindness brings no great benefit? If all beings cultivated minds of loving-kindness, they would all be born in good realms; everything they used and enjoyed would arise naturally, without the need for labor.

Therefore, it should be known that the merit of loving-kindness is the deepest and greatest of all. Moreover, one may sometimes give out of loving-kindness to benefit beings, or one may benefit them solely through loving-kindness. Furthermore, if beings touch the body of one who cultivates loving-kindness, or even enter the shadow cast by that person’s body, they will all attain peace, well-being, and happiness.

Therefore, it should be known that the merit of loving-kindness surpasses the merit of giving and all other kinds of merit. You say that decline and benefit are very great. This has already been answered: the power of intention can harm or benefit beings.

Therefore, it should be known that mental karma is weighty. You say that long accumulation of precepts and other practices is of no benefit. This is unreasonable.

Why? Because only when the intention is pure is one’s observance of the precepts pure. If the intention is impure, the precepts are also impure, as stated in the Sutra of the Seven-Handed Licentious Woman.

Furthermore, pure precepts bring great karmic results. As a sutra says, one who observes the precepts obtains whatever is wished for; this is because the precepts are pure. Moreover, if one observes the precepts purely, the mind attains peace and stability; this is not due to any other dharma.

You say that because bodily and verbal karma are coarse, they must be eliminated first. This is unreasonable, for subtle goodness can bring great karmic results, as with thoughts in meditation. You say that if one gives rise to lustful thoughts, one should thereby be deemed to have broken the precepts.

This is unreasonable. If a person’s mental karma is impure, that person’s precepts are also impure. Furthermore, the principles governing the acquisition of offenses and merit are one matter, while the rules governing the establishment of precepts are another.

You say that active karma arises through body and speech. This has already been answered in general. Namely, bodily and verbal karma are one class of dharmas, while mental karma is another.

Bodily and verbal karma must be brought to completion through action. For example, the offense of killing is constituted through four causes and conditions, for it is inseparable from mental karma. Furthermore, worldly beings regard bodily and verbal karma as evil, but do not regard mental karma in the same way.

Nor can it be maintained that mental karma does not harm others. Furthermore, the characteristics of offenses and merit have already been explained above. Because of these characteristics, the creation of mental karma alone is of primary importance, not bodily and verbal karma.

CHAPTER 120: CLARIFYING THE CAUSE OF KARMA

The author of the treatise says: The various kinds of karma have now been explained in brief. Karma is the cause and condition for receiving a body. Since the body is suffering by its very nature, it must be eliminated. To eliminate this body, one must sever the cause of karma. When the cause ceases, the result also ceases, just as a shadow exists because of a form; when the form disappears, the shadow disappears. Therefore, if one wishes to extinguish suffering, one must diligently and energetically sever this cause of karma.

Question: That one receives a body through karma needs to be clearly understood. Why is this? Some say that the body is produced by Bà-la-già-đề; some say that it is produced by Isvara; some say that it is produced by the Great Person; and some say that it arises spontaneously. Therefore, it must be explained how we know that it is produced by karma.

Answer: This matter has already been refuted through many kinds of causes and conditions. One should know that a body is received through karma. Furthermore, because the myriad things comprise many diverse kinds, one should know that their causes also differ.

Just as, on seeing that rice, maize, and the like differ, one knows that their seeds are not the same. Since Isvara and the others have no such distinctions, one should know that they are not the causes. Because karma has immeasurable distinctions, many different kinds of bodies are received.

Furthermore, all good people believe that bodies are received through karma. Why? Because these people constantly cultivate wholesome dharmas such as giving, morality, and patience, and abandon unwholesome dharmas such as killing living beings.

Therefore, one should know that bodies are received through karma. Furthermore, if a body is received through karma, one can return to true knowledge and eliminate false knowledge. Because false knowledge is eliminated, afflictions such as greed and anger are all eliminated; because the afflictions are eliminated, the weighty karma that gives rise to a subsequent body is also eliminated.

This is called being reversible. With causes such as Isvara, however, there can be no such reversal, because Isvara and the others cannot be eliminated. Therefore, one should know that bodies are received through karma.

Furthermore, it is presently observed that effects resemble their causes: maize is produced from maize, and rice from rice. In the same way, unwholesome karma brings an undesirable recompense, while wholesome karma brings a desirable result. Causes such as Isvara do not possess this correspondence.

Therefore, karma is the root of the body, not Isvara and the others. Furthermore, it is presently observed that all things are produced through karma. Because of evil karma, one undergoes the sufferings of being beaten, arrested, bound, imprisoned, whipped, struck with staffs, put to death, and so forth.

Because of wholesome karma, one enjoys the happiness of praise, material gain, and so forth. One who willingly speaks kind and affectionate words receives a pleasing recompense. Therefore, one should know that bodies are received through karma, not from Isvara and the others.

Furthermore, people in the world know for themselves that all things arise from karma as their cause, and so they undertake such activities as planting rice seedlings; they also cultivate meritorious karma such as giving, morality, and patience. No one sits idly waiting for Lord Isvara to bestow upon him what he desires. Therefore, one should know that recompense is obtained through karma.

Furthermore, even those who say that things arise from Isvara must themselves rely upon various practices, such as mortifying their bodies and observing fasting rites. Therefore, one should know that karma is the cause. Furthermore, regarding matters that are not presently manifest, one must accept the testimony of others, namely, the practices of the noble ones.

All sages and worthies rely upon wholesome dharmas such as morality. Therefore, one should know that worldly dharmas exist because karma is their cause. Apart from morality and the other practices, there would be no noble ones; and without the teachings of the noble ones, one would perform erroneous karma.

Therefore, one should know that bodies are received through karma. Furthermore, by cultivating wholesome karma such as morality, one is able to accomplish supernatural powers and transformations. Therefore, one should know that karma is the cause.

Furthermore, in the hells and other evil destinies, anger, vexation, and the like abound. Therefore, one should know that the evil destinies exist because of anger, vexation, and the like, just as, on seeing fruit upon a tree, one knows that the tree is its cause. Thus, one should know that karma is the root of the body.

Furthermore, because delusion and the other afflictions are powerful in the evil destinies, one should know that the afflictions are the causes of the evil destinies, since all unwholesomeness arises from delusion. Furthermore, those born into the evil destinies are many, while those born in good destinies are few. One sees that those who commit killing and other evil conduct are many, while those who practice wholesome conduct are few.

Therefore, one should know that killing and the other evil deeds are causes of the evil destinies. Furthermore, good people condemn and refrain from killing and the other evil deeds because they know that such deeds assuredly have their recompense; therefore, they condemn them and do not commit them. If they knew there were no recompense, why would they abandon them?

Moreover, if an evil thought arises in the minds of good people, they immediately strive to eliminate it because they fear evil recompense. Therefore, one should know that killing and the other evil deeds assuredly have evil recompense. If this were not so, people ought to indulge themselves as they pleased and all would be happiness: living beings could be killed and eaten whenever one wished to eat them; others’ property could simply be seized; and others’ wives could simply be violated, and all these acts would be pleasurable.

It is because people fear painful recompense in a future life that they keep far away from such deeds. Therefore, one should know that the body exists through karma. Furthermore, when, through the cultivation of right knowledge, all outflow-tainted karma is completely eliminated, no body is received.

Therefore, one should know that karma is the root. Furthermore, although arhats still have outflow-tainted karma, because they cultivate right knowledge, karma does not accumulate. Therefore, one should know that karma is the cause for receiving a body; because the cause of the body ceases, the body also ceases accordingly.

Furthermore, because the Four Noble Truths are known, through these Four Noble Truths the afflictions will assuredly never arise again. Because they do not arise, there is no body. The wise reflect in this way and therefore seek to know the Four Noble Truths.

Thus, one should know that karma is the cause of the body. Furthermore, when causes and conditions are incomplete, no body is received. Just as, when the soil is dry and the seeds are spoiled, no sprouts can grow, so too, when the ground that is the sphere of consciousness is not moistened by the water of craving, the seed of karma—having been spoiled by true knowledge—cannot cause the sprout of a subsequent body to arise.

Because the wise understand this matter, they seek to dry the ground that is the sphere of consciousness and spoil the seed of karma, and therefore diligently apply themselves with vigor. Thus, one should know that karma is the cause and condition for receiving a body. — End of the Treatise on Karma.

THE AGGREGATE OF THE TRUTH OF ORIGIN: CHARACTERISTICS OF THE AFFLICTIONS, IN THE TREATISE ON AFFLICTIONS, CHAPTER 121

The author of the treatise says: The various kinds of karma have already been explained. The afflictions will now be discussed. That which defiles the mind is called an affliction.

Question: What is meant by defilement?

Answer: If a state of mind is able to cause birth and death to continue without interruption, it is called defilement. The distinctions within the defiled mind are greed, anger, delusion, and the like. This defiled mind is called an affliction; it is also called a sinful dharma, a regressive dharma, a hidden and submerged dharma, a burning dharma, and a dharma of remorse.

It has such various names. When this defiled mind has been repeatedly cultivated and accumulated, it is called a latent tendency; it is not the case that the defiled mind is called a latent tendency merely when it arises. The afflictions are greed, anger, delusion, doubt, pride, and the five views.

From these ten distinctions arise the ninety-eight latent tendencies. Greed is delight in the three realms and also delight in nonexistence; this is called greed. As the sutra says: “Craving for sensual pleasure, craving for existence, and craving for nonexistence.” Nonexistence means annihilation.

Living beings, being oppressed by suffering, wish to extinguish the body composed of the skandhas and regard “nonexistence” as happiness.

Question: Delight is a characteristic of feeling and is not a characteristic of greed. As the sutra says, one who rejoices now will rejoice afterward. This means that one experiences pleasure in this life and will also experience pleasure afterward. It also says that one who grieves now will grieve afterward. This means that one undergoes suffering in this life and will also undergo suffering in a future life. Furthermore, when a deva asked, “One who has children rejoices,” the Buddha replied, “One who has children worries.” What of such statements?

Answer: Greed is one part of delight. As the sutra says: “Feeling serves as the cause and condition for fondness and delight. Within feeling, greed induces one; in material food there are delight and greed. When delight ceases, greed also ceases.” Therefore, one should know that greed is one part of delight. Thus, there is no fault. How can this be known? As the sutra says: “The Truth of Origin means thirst.” What is thirst? It is the desire to obtain a future body. What is its mode of activity? It means relying upon greed and desiring to obtain all manner of things.

Question: If the desire to obtain a future body is said to be the characteristic of thirst, why is it also said to rely upon greed and desire to obtain all manner of things?

Answer: There is also another characteristic of thirst. To say “desiring to obtain all manner of things” expresses its general characteristic; to say “desiring to obtain a future body” expresses its particular characteristic. Those who have become free from sensual desire may also desire various things, as when thirsting they desire water and so forth, but this is not included within the Truth of Origin. Only when one relies upon greed and desires to obtain a future body is this thirst included within the Truth of Origin.

Question: If thirst is also delight, and greed is also delight, why is it said to rely upon greed?

Answer: When it first arises, it is called thirst; when it grows, it is called craving. Therefore, it is said to be dependent. As the sutra says: “Delight binds the world.” Thus, delight is craving.

Again, the sutra says: “Eliminate craving and sorrow, those unwholesome dharmas.” Therein, craving is delight, and sorrow is anger. Since anger is spoken of as sorrow, one should know that delight is likewise spoken of as craving. Thus, in the eighteen mental courses, the afflictions are not mentioned; only the various kinds of feeling are spoken of.

Therefore, one should know that the aspect of delight is craving. Moreover, an ordinary person, apart from craving, cannot experience pleasure; apart from anger, cannot experience pain; and apart from delusion, cannot experience neither-painful-nor-pleasant feeling. How is this known?

Regarding the third kind of feeling, it is said: “With respect to this feeling, an ordinary person does not know its causal origination, does not know its cessation, does not know its gratification, does not know its danger, and does not know the escape from it. Therefore, with respect to neither-painful-nor-pleasant feeling, such a person is driven by the latent tendency of ignorance.” This ordinary person never knows these five dharmas and therefore is always driven by the latent tendency of ignorance in neither-painful-nor-pleasant feeling.

The latent tendency of ignorance is precisely the nature of “not knowing” within the activity of feeling. Likewise, the ordinary person’s mental activities of pain and pleasure are themselves anger and craving. Again, when something first reaches the mind, it is called feeling; when it increases and becomes manifest, it is called an affliction.

Again, when the mind subsides and softens, it is called feeling; when that very mind intensifies, it is called an affliction.

CHAPTER 122: THE CHARACTERISTICS OF CRAVING

The author of the treatise says: Among the nine fetters, this craving universally binds all three realms and is called thirst. Among the seven fetters, it is divided into two kinds: craving for sensual desire and craving for existence. Why is this?

Because some people conceive the two higher realms to be liberation. Therefore, the Buddha called those realms “existence.” “Existence” means birth; if there were no craving, there would be no birth. Therefore, craving for existence is taught separately.

It is not merely craving for sensual desire that is an affliction, nor is the complete cessation of craving for sensual desire alone called liberation. Thus, the Buddha taught that even the meditative absorptions of the formless realm contain craving for existence. The Buddha revealed that subtle bondage exists therein.

Therefore, this craving, when included among the ten unwholesome courses of action and the four bonds, is called covetousness. Covetousness is called desire because one wishes to obtain another person’s possessions. When included among the five hindrances and the lower fetters, it is called sensual desire.

Sensual desire is called desire because it concerns the five sensual pleasures. When included among the three unwholesome roots, it is called the unwholesome root of craving; the unwholesome root of craving is capable of producing and increasing all unwholesome dharmas. If this craving is directed toward what is contrary to Dharma, it is called evil craving—for example, stealing or plundering another person’s property; taking property belonging to a stupa, monastery, or the Sangha; desiring to eat the flesh of a living being that has not yet died; desiring sexual relations with one’s mother, elder sister, younger sister, the wife of one’s teacher, a renunciant, or engaging with one’s own wife in an improper manner.

All these are called evil craving. If one is unwilling to share even one’s own possessions, this is called stinginess; stinginess is itself craving. If one actually has no merit but wishes others to say that one does, this is called evil desire.

If one truly has merit and wishes others to know of it, this is called the desire for recognition. If one wishes to receive many offerings and many possessions, this is called having many desires. If one wishes to receive only a few offerings and few possessions, yet seeks what is excellent without satisfaction, this is called not knowing contentment.

If one is deeply attached to lineage, family relations, reputation, appearance, wealth, youth, longevity, and the like, this is called arrogance and heedlessness. If one craves the four requisites offered in support, this is called the fourfold craving. Again, this craving is of two kinds: first, craving for sensual desire; second, craving for possessions.

It is also of two kinds: first, craving for self; second, craving for what belongs to self. First, it takes internal objects; second, it takes external objects. Craving in the two higher realms takes exclusively internal objects.

Again, there are five kinds: first, craving for color; second, craving for physical form; third, craving for contact; fourth, craving for deportment and speech; fifth, craving for everything. Again, craving for sights, sounds, odors, tastes, and tangible objects is called craving for the five sensual pleasures. Again, the thirst arising from the six kinds of contact is called craving for the six sense objects.

Again, craving occurs within the three kinds of feeling: in pleasant feeling, there is the craving to obtain it and the craving to preserve it; in painful feeling, there is the craving not to obtain it and the craving for it to disappear; in neither-painful-nor-pleasant feeling, there is craving rooted in delusion. Again, this craving has nine factors, as stated in the Sutra on the Great Person: “Because of thirst, one seeks what is desired.”

When a person is distressed by one circumstance, that person seeks another, as it is said: one who is happy does not seek, while one who suffers seeks much. When this craving increases, it is called seeking. If, while seeking, one obtains the object, this is called acquisition.

Delighting because of acquisition, one deliberates whether one should take it or should not take it. If the mind decides, then because of deliberation, desire and delight arise; because of desire and delight, attachment arises. Attachment is called craving and thirst.

Because of the causes and conditions of attachment, one takes; taking is called acceptance. Because of acceptance, stinginess arises; because of stinginess, one guards; and because of guarding, one equips oneself with all kinds of whips, clubs, knives, spears, and the like. These are called the nine factors.

There are also another nine divisions: since craving varies in degree, there are superior, middling, and inferior—lower inferior, lower middling, lower superior; middle inferior, middle middling, middle superior; upper inferior, upper middling, and upper superior. Again, worldly people divide this craving into ten stages: first, upon initially seeing a beautiful form, the thought secretly arises, “May I obtain it”; second, desire subsequently arises; third, one forms an aspiration; fourth, one continually thinks about and remembers it; fifth, one imitates the person’s actions; sixth, one forgets all shame; seventh, the image constantly haunts one’s sight; eighth, one becomes unrestrained; ninth, one becomes deranged; tenth, one faints and dies.

These are called the characteristics of craving.

CHAPTER 123: THE CAUSES OF CRAVING

Question: How does this craving arise?

Answer: When, in relation to objects such as female beauty, one gives rise to improper thoughts and recollections—whether concerning color, form, touch, gestures, or speech—sensual desire arises. Again, if one does not guard the faculties of the eyes and ears, sensual desire arises. Again, if one does not know moderation in eating and drinking, sensual desire arises.

Again, by associating closely with women, sensual desire arises. Again, by indulging in pleasures, sensual desire arises. Again, because of delusion, sensual desire arises, as when one regards what is impure as pure.

Again, because of bad spiritual friends, sensual desire arises, just as clean clothing becomes soiled when wrapped in a filthy cloth. Again, by keeping company with persons of many desires, sensual desire arises. Again, when one entertains inverted thoughts regarding the four foundations beginning with the body and feelings, one is swept away by sensual desire, like a round jar without a binding hoop or flowers not threaded upon a string.

Again, when one is indolent and does not diligently cultivate the path, sensual desire can easily arise. Again, when one goes to places that should not be frequented, one is invaded by desire—namely, places of prostitutes, taverns, butcher shops, and the like—as in the simile of the hawk. Again, when contemplation of impurity and the like has not yet been able to destroy the object-condition, sensual desire gains power.

Again, because one has long been habitually accustomed to sensual desire, it becomes a latent tendency of desire and thus easily arises. Again, regarding objects such as female beauty, one delights in grasping their signs and details. Grasping signs means seizing upon such signs as the hands, feet, face, eyes, speech, joking, laughter, glances, and cries.

Grasping details means discriminating the differences between male and female forms. By thus grasping, and after grasping, recollecting and discriminating, sensual desire arises. Again, because the mind’s power of reflection is weak, it continually follows objects and is unable to restrain itself; thus sensual desire arises.

Again, if sensual desire has arisen and one tolerates it without abandoning it, it gradually increases day by day: from lesser it becomes middling, and from middling it becomes great. Again, when one sees only the intoxicating savor and benefit within sensual desire and does not recognize its faults, sensual desire arises. Again, sensual desire arises because of the season, such as spring.

Again, sensual desire arises because of the place, as in regions where habits of sexual indulgence have long prevailed. Again, sensual desire arises according to bodily strength, as in youth, freedom from illness, and ample nourishment. Again, sensual desire arises because of stimulating powers, such as taking medicines and the like.

Again, when one obtains at will the pure and exquisite five sensual pleasures, sensual desire arises: that is, on seeing beautiful sights—flowers, ponds, gardens and forests luxuriant with fresh greenery, cool flowing spring water, lovely clouds drifting gently, flashes of lightning gleaming brilliantly, and breezes wafting fragrant scents; or on hearing the harmonious, enchanting calls of various birds and beasts; or encountering women who are adorned, soft, gentle, and graceful, with melodious voices, gestures, speech, and the like.

Again, sensual desire arises because of karmic causes and conditions: one who has made pure offerings delights in pure and exquisite objects of the five sensual pleasures, whereas one burdened by wrongdoing delights in impure things. Again, sensual desire arises according to one’s kind, as a human desires another human. Again, when the body is attached to conventional designations, sensual desire arises: inwardly one forms the notion of a man, while outwardly one forms notions of women, clothing, enemies, relatives, and various other signs.

Again, because the mind has not yet attained the concentration of emptiness, one inwardly perceives sentient beings and outwardly perceives forms and the like; thus sensual desire arises. Again, if the latent tendency of desire has not been completely extinguished, then when an object of attachment appears before one, improper thoughts and recollections arise regarding it. Causes and conditions such as these give rise to sensual desire.

CHAPTER 124: THE FAULTS OF DESIRE

Question: What faults does sensual desire possess that one should wish to eliminate it?

Answer: Sensual desire is truly suffering, but ordinary beings, being inverted, mistakenly conceive it as pleasure. The wise perceive its suffering, and upon perceiving its suffering, they must eliminate it. Again, indulgence in sensual pleasures never brings satisfaction, just as drinking salt water only makes one thirstier; since the thirst grows ever greater, how can there be pleasure?

Again, because of indulgence in sensual pleasures, various evils accumulate, and knives, clubs, and the like all arise from sensual desire. Again, a sutra says: “The fault of desire is slight, but it is difficult to abandon.” It is called a slight fault in comparison with anger, but in truth it is grave. Again, desire is a cause and condition for a future body, as it is said that craving is the cause and condition for grasping, and so forth, culminating in the accumulation of a great mass of suffering.

Again, it is said that suffering is the cause of craving. Again, it is said that a bhiksu should carefully contemplate: “However many kinds of suffering there are, from what do they arise?” One should know that they all take the body as their cause and condition, while the body arises from craving. Again, it is said that when there are delight and desire regarding material food, consciousness arises therein.

One should therefore know that craving is the cause and condition for assuming a body. Again, this desire always operates amid impurity, as in regard to women and the like. The bodies and minds of women are impure, like a lump of excrement wrapped in colored material that can defile, and like a venomous snake that can bite and cause harm.

Again, this sensual desire always operates amid delusion. As a sutra says: “It is like a dog gnawing a dry bone smeared with blood: because its own saliva moistens the bone, it imagines that it is flavorful. One who is desirous is likewise: though sensual pleasures have no true savor, through the power of perverse error one imagines that one is enjoying their flavor.” Again, there are the seven similes beginning with the piece of meat.

Some say that because sensual desire arises regarding things of the past and future, there is little pleasure but much suffering. Why is this? Because times of enjoying wealth and honor are few, while times of their dissolution and loss are many.

Again, because they seek pleasure, those who crave sensual pleasures undergo all kinds of suffering: suffering while seeking, suffering while guarding, and suffering even while enjoying. Farming rice, conducting trade, waging war, pursuing official advancement, and the like involve suffering while seeking. While guarding what has been acquired, one suffers from fear of losing it; while it remains present, one suffers because one is never satisfied.

Again, the pleasure of affectionate union is slight, while the suffering of separation is exceedingly great. Therefore, one should know that sensual desire has many faults. Again, as the Buddha said, sensual desire has five faults: first, its savor is slight but its faults are many; second, the fetters flourish; third, even at death one remains unsatisfied; fourth, it is reproached and rejected by the noble ones; and fifth, there is no evil that it does not cause one to commit.

Furthermore, this sensual craving constantly causes sentient beings to follow the current of birth and death and to depart far from nirvana. It has immeasurable faults such as these. Therefore, one should know that sensual craving is greatly blameworthy.

Moreover, the arising of all afflictions is due to sensual craving. For example, because of craving for the body, the afflictions concerning the body arise. Furthermore, if the root of the latent tendency of craving is not uprooted, one will perpetually suffer, just as, if a poisonous tree is not cut down, it will continually harm people.

Craving also causes sentient beings to carry a heavy burden. Furthermore, the sutra says: “Craving is a tether. Just as two oxen, one black and one white, do not bind each other but are bound only by the tether, so too the eye does not bind form, nor does form bind the eye; it is the sensual craving therein that binds.” If objects and conditions themselves were bondage, no one could attain liberation.

Furthermore, the sutra says: “Sentient beings, obscured by ignorance and bound by the knot of craving, journey back and forth through birth and death without limit.” Furthermore, the sutra says: “When craving ceases, form ceases; and so on, until consciousness also ceases.” This craving can be ended only through contemplation of impermanence and the like. When this sensual craving is ended, the mind is liberated. When craving for form ceases, there is no form; when there is no form, suffering ceases.

The same applies through consciousness. Therefore, one should know that sensual craving is the strongest and firmest of bonds. Moreover, sensual craving is as wicked as a robber, yet sentient beings neither see nor recognize it.

It also constantly moves within the inner gates, gentle and beautiful in appearance; therefore, it is called profoundly evil. Furthermore, the minds of sentient beings delight in giving rise to sensual craving; even mosquitoes and ants arouse it in relation to food, drink, and sexual desire. Moreover, this sensual craving, through many kinds of causes and conditions, can bind the human heart—namely, through parents, brothers, sisters, wives, children, wealth, and so forth.

Furthermore, sentient beings are able to undergo rebirth because their minds are obscured by craving for food, drink, and sexual desire; if they crave meditative concentration, they are born in the higher realms. Moreover, this sensual craving is able to bring things together: all the objects of pleasure in the world differ from one another, yet sensual craving joins them together, just as grains of sand adhere when mixed with water.

Furthermore, within birth and death, craving is taken as savor, as it is said: “One savors form with attachment.” This means that because of form, either joy or pleasure arises. Without craving, there would be no savor; without savor, birth and death could swiftly be ended. Moreover, this sensual craving is opposed to liberation.

Why is this? Because sentient beings, being attached to sensual pleasure and the pleasure of meditative concentration, do not delight in or desire liberation. Furthermore, according to the portion of craving that one ends, one correspondingly gains a portion of joy, as it is said: “In accordance with one’s progressive separation from desire, one’s joy becomes increasingly profound.” It is also said: “If one wishes to attain every joy, one must abandon all desires.” By abandoning all desires, one attains ultimate and everlasting joy.

If one wishes to attain great bliss, one must relinquish lesser pleasures. By relinquishing lesser pleasures, one can attain immeasurable bliss. It is also said: “The wise have no other joy apart from freeing the mind from craving.” To the extent that the mind is freed from craving, all suffering and distress are extinguished.

Moreover, this sensual craving corrupts wholesome qualities. Why is this? One who is deeply attached gives no consideration to moral discipline, lineage, doctrine, proper deportment, or reputation; does not accept instruction; does not perceive ruin and danger; and disregards merit and wrongdoing.

Like one deranged or intoxicated, such a person does not know good from bad; like a blind person, such a person does not see the benefits of merit. As it is said: “Sensual craving does not perceive benefit; sensual craving cannot distinguish right from wrong. One is as blind and ignorant because one has not eliminated sensual craving.”

It is also said: “Sensual craving is a vast ocean, without shore and without bottom; its waves and currents swirl in the depths, with evil creatures and rakshasa demons. No one can cross beyond dangers such as these. Only by relying on the vessel of pure moral discipline and the power of the wind of right view, with the Buddha as the great helmsman who can point out the correct course, can one who practices in accordance with his words cross over.” Furthermore, among all the afflictions, none involves as much ideation, recollection, discrimination, and savor as sensual craving. Moreover, this sensual craving is difficult to end, as the sutra says: “Two kinds of desire are difficult to end: first, the desire to obtain; second, the desire to live long.”

Question: Sensual craving has faults such as these. How can one recognize the characteristics of a person of great sensual craving?

Answer: A person of great sensual craving delights in women’s beauty, flowers, fragrances, jeweled necklaces, songs, music, and dancing; frequently visits the houses of courtesans for gatherings, food, and drink; enjoys large assemblies and various implements of amusement; delights in speaking affectionate words; is often joyful, with a bright and harmonious countenance; is quick to inquire after others, smiling while speaking; is slow to anger and easily pleased; has much sympathy; is physically agile; is energetic and capable by temperament; and clings firmly to the self.

Characteristics such as these are called the characteristics of great sensual craving. These characteristics accord with the binding nature of craving; therefore, it is difficult to end. Furthermore, all sensual craving ultimately results in suffering.

Why is this? Because the objects of craving and attachment that one obtains will certainly disperse and separate, inevitably bringing sorrow and suffering. As it is said: “Humans and devas alike delight in form, crave form, enjoy form, and cling to form; when this form decays, their minds are filled with regret, grief, and sorrow.

The same is true of feeling, perception, formations, and consciousness.” Furthermore, in the sutras, the Buddha gives many analogies to rebuke sensual craving. Because it grievously harms the life of wisdom, it is called poison. Because it pierces the mind, it is called a thorn.

Because it can sever wholesome roots, it is called a knife. Because it can burn body and mind, it is called fire. Because it can produce all forms of suffering, it is called an enemy.

Because it arises from within the mind, it is called an internal robber. Because it is difficult to uproot, it is called a deep root. Because it can defile one’s reputation, it is called mud.

Because it obstructs the wholesome path, it is called an impediment. Because it penetrates within and causes pain, it is called an arrow piercing the heart. Because it gives rise to all evils, it is called an unwholesome root.

Because it pours into the ocean of birth and death, it is called a river. Because it steals wholesome wealth, it is called a thief. Sensual craving has immeasurably many faults such as these.

Therefore, it must be ended.

CHAPTER 125: ENDING CRAVING

Question: Since sensual craving has faults such as these, how is it to be ended?

Answer: It is restrained by contemplation of impurity and the like, and ended by contemplation of impermanence and the like.

Question: There are people whose awareness of impermanence causes their sensual craving to increase further. How can this be?

Answer: If a person is able to know fully that all things are impermanent, there will be no sensual craving. As the sutra says: “By skillfully cultivating the perception of impermanence, one can destroy all sensual craving: craving for form, craving for the formless, all frivolous agitation, conceit, and ignorance.” Furthermore, if a person is able to see that everything in the world is suffering and that suffering arises from the cause and condition of craving, this craving will cease.

Furthermore, if a person constantly reflects, “I will certainly undergo the sufferings of birth, aging, illness, and death,” this craving will cease. Moreover, when one attains pure pleasure, one abandons impure pleasure; for example, upon attaining the first dhyana, one abandons craving for sensual desire. Furthermore, by seeing the faults of sensual craving, one is able to end it.

Its faults are as explained above. Moreover, because wisdom grows through extensive learning and the like, one is able to end sensual craving, for it is the nature of wisdom to destroy the afflictions. Furthermore, when wholesome causes and conditions are fully present, sensual craving ceases—namely, pure observance of moral discipline and the like, together with the eleven requisites of concentration, which will be explained later under the Truth of the Path.

Furthermore, knowledge of form and the like, knowledge of dharmas and the like, are skillful means. The Buddha is the Great Physician; fellow practitioners are his attendants; the true Dharma is the medicine. If one acts correctly in accordance with what has been taught, the illness of sensual craving will cease, just as when a person recognizes the illness and these three conditions are complete, the illness is immediately cured.

Question: As the sutra says, contemplation of impurity is used to eliminate sensual craving. Why, then, are both impurity and the like, and impermanence and the like, mentioned?

Answer: All Buddha-Dharma is taught for the sake of destroying the afflictions. Yet each teaching has its own particular power: first, the contemplation of impurity is used to restrain sensual desire; afterward, contemplation of impermanence is used to cut it off. Furthermore, contemplation of impurity removes coarse sensual desire, which is readily recognized by many people; but because the latent tendency of craving is subtle, it must rely upon contemplation of impermanence to be cut off. Moreover, this is stated in this way only in that one sutra; other sutras also say that other dharmas are likewise capable of cutting it off. Through causes and conditions such as these, sensual desire is extinguished.

CHAPTER 126: ANGER

The author of the treatise says that the characteristics of anger are as follows: There is anger toward a person that wishes to have that person destroyed, by having others bind, beat, or kill them, or that is determined to abandon them forever and never wishes to see them again. This anger is called ba-la-de-gia, translated as severe anger. There is anger that merely wishes to beat another person, called vi-han-ba, translated as moderate anger.

There is anger that does not wish to part from the other person, such as that arising from hatred or affection toward one’s wife and children; this is called cau-lu-da, translated as mild anger. There is anger that continually stains the mind, called ma-xoa, translated as not seeking revenge. There is anger that remains in the mind and is never relinquished, with a persistent desire for revenge, called uu-ba-na-ha, translated as seeking revenge.

There is anger that stubbornly clings to a single matter and, despite much counsel and admonition, resolutely refuses to let it go—like a lion wishing to cross a river that fixes its gaze upon a point on the opposite bank and does not turn back even unto death; this is called ba-la-da-xa, translated as obstinate attachment. There is anger whereby, upon seeing another obtain some benefit, jealousy arises in the mind; this is called y-sa.

There is anger that constantly delights in contention and litigation, with harshness of mind and speech; this is called tam-lam-ba, translated as contentious anger. There is anger whereby one opposes and resists the instruction of teachers and elders; this is called dau-hoa-gia, translated as opposition. There is anger whereby, when even a minor matter fails to accord with one’s wishes, the mind becomes agitated and causes harm; this is called a-san-de, translated as impatience.

There is anger characterized by speech that is not gentle, habitual scowling, an unfriendly countenance, and speaking so as to forestall the intentions of others; this is called a-ba-cat-luoc, translated as displeasure. There is anger whereby one frequently reviles those with whom one dwells; this is called a-tao-la-chiem, translated as disharmony. There is anger whereby one causes distress to fellow practitioners through body, speech, and mind; this is called thang ky, translated as harmful provocation.

There is anger characterized by habitual irritability and fault-finding with things; this is called dang-don-na-tha, translated as difficult temperament. These two kinds of anger may arise either in relation to sentient beings or not in relation to sentient beings. That which arises in relation to sentient beings is called a grave offense.

They may also be divided into superior, middling, and inferior degrees, making nine grades in all. They are further distinguished into nine according to the nine kinds of afflictions. Baseless anger arising without any cause is the tenth kind.

Question: How does this anger arise?

Answer: It arises from painful and distressing circumstances that are not in accord with one’s wishes. It also arises because one is unable to know correctly the nature of painful feeling. It may arise from being rebuked, reviled, whipped, beaten, and so forth.

Anger may arise from associating and working with evil people, such as butchers, hunters, and the like. It may arise because the power of wisdom is weak, like the branches and twigs of a tree shaken by the wind. If anger is accumulated until it becomes habitual, anger then arises.

If one has been reborn as a human from the lineages of butchers or hunters, or from the species of venomous snakes, anger then arises. It may arise because one delights in recalling the faults of others, as explained in the nine kinds of vexation. It may arise according to the age, as in the era when the human lifespan is only ten years, and so forth.

It may arise because of one’s species, as with venomous snakes and the like. It may arise because of a particular region, such as the land of Khuong-cu and the like. Furthermore, as previously explained concerning the causes and conditions that give rise to craving, anger arises when one encounters what is contrary to that craving.

Moreover, such causes and conditions as clinging to self, an intensely arrogant mind, and intoxication with material possessions give rise to anger.

Question: What faults does this anger possess?

Answer: The sutras say that anger is the gravest offense. In comparison with sensual desire, it is said to subside more easily; yet in truth it is difficult to remove, although it does not cling to the mind for as long as craving does. Furthermore, anger harms both sides: first it burns and harms oneself, and only afterward does it burn and harm others.

Anger also certainly leads to hell, because the karma produced through anger results, for the most part, in falling into hell. Anger can also destroy wholesome merit. This means that the three dharmas of generosity, morality, and patience all arise from loving-kindness and the like.

Because anger is contrary to loving-kindness, it is said to be capable of destroying them. Moreover, karma produced through anger always brings a bad reputation. After producing karma through anger, the mind later suffers remorse.

Furthermore, one who is prone to anger has no compassion and is therefore called a violent person. Sentient beings already constantly suffer, yet such a person inflicts further harm upon them out of anger, which is like a sore and like fire. The sutras themselves also describe the faults of anger: a person of great anger has an ugly appearance; whether sleeping or awake, that person is ill at ease because the mind is constantly fearful; others do not trust that person; and so forth.

Question: What are the characteristics of a person with much anger?

Answer: Such a person is harsh in mind and speech and is habitually displeased; the face is scowling and the expression unfriendly. Such a person is difficult to approach, easily becomes enraged, and is difficult to placate; habitually harbors resentment, delights in disputes, frequently prepares weapons, and forms factions with evil companions. Such a person is also jealous of good people, coarse and lacking in careful reflection, and seldom knows shame or embarrassment. Such qualities are called the characteristics of anger. All these characteristics arise from jealousy and hatred of others; therefore, they must be cut off.

Question: How should they be cut off?

Answer: One should constantly cultivate loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity; then anger will be cut off. One must also perceive the faults of anger; only then can it be cut off. Furthermore, when true wisdom is attained, anger is cut off. One must also rely upon the power of patience; only then can anger be cut off.

Question: What is called the power of patience?

Answer: If one can patiently endure the suffering of rebukes and insults inflicted by others, one will obtain blessed rewards and wholesome dharmas. Nor should one become violent because of an inability to endure. This is called the power of patience.

Furthermore, one who cultivates patience is called a sramana, because patience is the first gateway for entering the Path. The Dharma of a sramana is this: when attacked, one does not retaliate; when reviled, one does not revile in return; when struck, one does not strike back. Moreover, when a bhiksu is capable of patience, that accords with the Dharma of renunciation.

Anger does not accord with the rule of renunciation; patience alone accords with it. Furthermore, if a bhiksu’s outward appearance and clothing differ from those of laypeople while anger still remains in the mind, this is like a thief wearing the robes prescribed for a renunciant. One who cultivates patience thereby fulfills the virtue of loving-kindness and compassion.

Furthermore, one who cultivates patience can accomplish one’s own benefit. Why is this? Those who are angry wish to distress and harm others, but in fact they harm themselves.

They employ their entire body and speech to inflict evil upon others, yet the evil they themselves suffer is more than a hundred thousand times greater. One should therefore know that anger inflicts the gravest harm upon oneself. Thus, wise people who wish for both themselves and others to escape great suffering and grave offenses must cultivate patience.

Question: How can one patiently endure the suffering of rebukes, reproaches, and insults?

Answer: If a person skillfully cultivates contemplation of impermanence and clearly comprehends that all dharmas arise and cease from moment to moment, then both the one who reviles and the one who is reviled perish in each successive moment. Wherein, then, is there anything worthy of anger? Furthermore, only one who skillfully cultivates the mind of emptiness can practice patience.

One should think thus: “All dharmas are truly empty. Who is the one who reviles? Who is the one reviled?” Moreover, if the matter is true, one should be patient: since I truly am at fault, what that person said is true.

How could I be angry? If the matter is untrue, that person will himself undergo the karmic retribution for false speech. What does it have to do with me that I should become angry?

Furthermore, upon hearing harsh abuse, one should think thus: “Everyone in the world undergoes retribution according to karma. In the past I must have created the karmic cause for receiving this abuse; now I should repay it. How could I become angry?” Furthermore, upon hearing harsh abuse, one should examine one’s own fault: because through karma I have received a body, and the body is a vessel of suffering; therefore, I must endure abuse.

Furthermore, one who cultivates patience should reflect thus: “All things arise from a multitude of causes and conditions. This suffering of harsh abuse arises from auditory consciousness, mental consciousness, sounds, and the rest. Of these, I myself possess two parts, while the other person possesses only the sounds; therefore, my fault is greater.

Why should I become angry? Moreover, because I grasp the characteristics of these sounds and discriminate them, afflictions arise; this is my own fault.” Furthermore, one who practices patience should not find fault with others. Why?

These faults of greed, anger, and delusion are not the fault of sentient beings, but arise from the sickness of their minds; thus, they have no self-mastery. It is like a physician treating someone possessed by a demon: he should be angry only with the demon, not with the patient. Furthermore, because this person diligently cultivates vigor and delights in gathering wholesome dharmas, he does not cling to the words of others.

He also recollects that even the Buddhas and the sages and saints could not avoid being reviled: for example, the brahmin Cañcā and others reviled the Buddha in many ways, while Sariputra and others suffered various forms of injury and humiliation at the hands of brahmins. How much more so should this be true of us, people of meager merit? He also thinks thus: “There is much evil in the world.

It is already exceedingly fortunate that they have not taken my life; how much more so when they merely strike or revile me?” He also thinks thus: “These various forms of harsh abuse cause me no physical pain and are easy to endure. As the Buddha taught the bhiksus, even if one’s body were cut apart with an iron saw, one should still patiently endure it; how much more so mere reviling? Then clear evidence is obtained, disenchantment and detachment are deepened, evil is abandoned, and goodness cultivated.” Furthermore, this person should know that failure to practice patience will result in suffering as karmic retribution later.

He then thinks thus: “I would rather endure contempt and abuse than fall into hell.” Furthermore, this person deeply cherishes a sense of shame: “I am a disciple of the Great Being, the Blessed One, and one who cultivates the Path. How could I give rise through body and speech to karma that ought not to be produced?” Furthermore, he has heard that bodhisattvas cultivated patience, and that Sakra and others thereby attained the fruit of the power of patience.

Therefore, one should cultivate patience.

CHAPTER 127: IGNORANCE

The author of the treatise says: To pursue conventional designations is called ignorance. It is as when ordinary people follow the designation “self.” In reality, there is neither self nor anything belonging to a self; it is only the conjunction of dharmas that is conventionally designated a “person.” Because ordinary people cannot discern this, the thought of self arises. The arising of the thought of self is itself ignorance.

Question: In the sutras, the Buddha says that not knowing the past, and so forth, is called ignorance. Why do you speak only of this thought of self?

Answer: Because many people are mistaken concerning the past and the rest, it is said that not knowing these is called ignorance. Furthermore, the sutras explain the meaning of illumination: having understanding is called illumination. What dharmas are known? The form skandha is impermanent, and one knows its impermanence as it truly is. The skandhas of feeling, perception, formations, and consciousness are impermanent, and one knows their impermanence as it truly is. That which is contrary to illumination is called ignorance. Thus, failing to understand things “as they truly are” is called ignorance.

Question: If failing to understand things as they truly are is called ignorance, then should such dharmas as wood and stone also be called ignorance, since they fail to understand things as they truly are?

Answer: No. Wood and stone are without mind and cannot discriminate the past and the rest, whereas ignorance is capable of discrimination; therefore, it is not the same as wood and stone.

Question: Ignorance denotes the absence of a dharma, just as when a person’s eyes do not see form, there is no separate dharma called “not seeing.” Therefore, it is merely the absence of illumination that is called ignorance; there is no separate dharma.

Answer: No. If ignorance did not exist, then what would one call the false grasping of a person within the five skandhas, or the conception of gold and silver arising with regard to tiles and stones? Therefore, one should know that the nature of erroneous discrimination is called ignorance; it is not called ignorance merely because illumination is absent. Furthermore, conditioned formations and the rest arise in succession through ignorance as their cause and condition. If ignorance were a nonexistent dharma, how could they arise?

Question: If that which is not illumination is called ignorance, then, apart from illumination alone, all dharmas would be ignorance. Therefore, ignorance cannot be the name of one particular dharma.

Answer: This ignorance is spoken of in terms of its own characteristic; it does not refer to all other dharmas. For example, when one speaks of the unwholesome, one refers to the essence of the unwholesome, not to the karmically indeterminate. Ignorance is likewise. Although someone bears a human form, if he lacks human virtue, he is called inhuman. In the same way, although this ignorance possesses discrimination, because it cannot know reality, it is called ignorance. Wood and stone are not like this.

Question: If such expressions as “formless,” “without resistance,” “undefiled,” and “flavorless” are all modes of speech, why is “ignorance” not the same?

Answer: This reasoning may apply in some cases, but it does not apply to such things as the unwholesome.

Question: Some say that merely because illumination is absent, it is called ignorance, just as a house without light is called dark.

Answer: The world has two modes of expression: either because illumination is absent, something is said to be unilluminated, or because there is erroneous illumination, it is also said to be unilluminated. Saying that something is unilluminated because illumination is absent is like saying in the world that the blind do not see forms and the deaf do not hear sounds. Saying that erroneous illumination is also unilluminated is like seeing a bare tree at night and conceiving it to be a person, or seeing a person and conceiving him to be a bare tree.

Furthermore, because a person cannot know reality in this way, he is said not to know. Moreover, an erroneous mind is called an affliction. Because arhats have eliminated this cause and condition of karmic formations, they have no ignorance serving as a cause and condition for formations.

If whatever is not illumination were called ignorance, then because an arhat does not possess all the illumination found in the Buddha’s Dharma, he should be called ignorant. If he possessed ignorance, he would not be an arhat. Therefore, one should know that ignorance has its own distinct essential nature, namely the erroneous mind.

This erroneous mind is ignorance, which differentiates into all the afflictions. Why? Because all afflictions are erroneous activities.

Furthermore, all afflictions obscure a person’s mind and are all forms of blindness. As it is said, one blinded by sensual desire sees neither the dharma concerning sensual desire nor merit. Those who harbor this greed are all called blind.

Anger and delusion are likewise. Furthermore, all karmic formations arise from the afflictions; therefore, the sutras say that formations arise from ignorance. One should thus know that all afflictions are ignorance.

Furthermore, those who do not perceive emptiness always possess ignorance, for the defilement of ignorance is the cause and condition of formations. Furthermore, because it is erroneous illumination, it is called ignorance. Those who have not perceived emptiness always possess erroneous illumination.

Therefore, one should know that ignorance differentiates into all the afflictions.

Question: How does ignorance arise?

Answer: If one hears and reflects upon false causes, ignorance arises—for example, believing that there is dravya, that there is a possessor of parts, that there is a spirit, that dharmas do not perish from thought-moment to thought-moment, that there is no body in a future life, that reputation and the Spirit are eternal, or that grasses and trees all possess mind. When one then seeks to establish such false attachments, ignorance arises.

Or ignorance arises from false causes in this way: one associates closely with evil and misguided friends, diligently listens to false teachings, then thinks wrongly and acts wrongly. Because of these four false causes, ignorance arises. Furthermore, the causes and conditions that give rise to the other afflictions are all causes for the arising of ignorance.

Again, through ignorance as a cause, ignorance arises, just as corn grows from corn and rice from rice. In this way, ignorance arises from the attachments of sentient beings. Moreover, a sutra says: “Ignorance arises through the causes and conditions of wrong mindfulness.” Wrong mindfulness is another name for ignorance.

That is, upon seeing that a person exists, the notion of a person first arises in the mind and is afterward distinctly conceived; hence it is called ignorance. These two, earlier and later, aid and engender each other, just as a tree produces fruit and the fruit in turn produces a tree.

Question: What faults does ignorance have?

Answer: All distress and affliction arise from ignorance. Why is this? From ignorance arise greed and the other afflictions; from the afflictions, unwholesome karma is produced; and from karma, one comes to receive a body. Because of the causes and conditions of receiving a body, one then undergoes the various forms of distress belonging to consciousness. As a sutra says: “Obscured by ignorance and bound by the knot of craving, beings undergo the various bodies of existence.” The Lion’s Roar Sutra also says: “All forms of grasping have ignorance as their root.” It is also said in verse:

Whatever places of evil and sin

There may be in this life or the next,

All have ignorance as their root,

And therefore arise from greed and the like.

All faults of the afflictions

Exist because of ignorance,

For from ignorance arise

All the afflictions.

Furthermore, because of ignorance, ordinary beings undergo this body of the five skandhas, which is impure, impermanent, suffering, empty, and without self. How could the wise willingly undergo such suffering? Again, through right reflection one is able to relinquish the five skandhas.

As a sutra says: “If one knows that the notion of self in the mind is false and inverted, one will no longer be inverted and will no longer be reborn.” Therefore, one should know that beings are bound because of ignorance as a cause and condition, and attain liberation because of knowledge as a cause and condition. Moreover, because of ignorance, beings in the world greedily seek a slight taste of pleasure without seeing its many faults, like a mayfly casting itself into a flame or a fish swallowing a baited hook.

Sentient beings are likewise: at present they crave a slight taste of pleasure, without regard for the many faults that will follow tomorrow. Furthermore, the false views arising in the scriptures of non-Buddhist schools, which say that there is no sin or merit and so forth, are all ignorance. Again, those who produce karma through such views mostly fall into hell; all false views arise from ignorance.

Moreover, the Buddha, the Blessed One, is the Omniscient One, the Great Teacher of the three realms, one who practices true purity, and there are also all the noble disciples. Yet the followers of non-Buddhist schools are unable to discern them, just as a blind person casts away a precious jewel. These are all faults of ignorance.

Furthermore, all the distress, affliction, ruin, and destruction experienced by sentient beings arise from ignorance, while every benefit, accomplishment, and increase comes through wisdom. If ignorance is allowed to increase to its utmost, it assuredly leads to the Avici hell. At the beginning of the kalpa, human beings did not know that sensual savor was illusory; craving and attachment then arose, and they therefore lost their beauty, strength, lifespan, and all other good things.

Thus, one should know that all benefits are lost because of ignorance. Moreover, this ignorance can be severed only by true wisdom; greed and the other afflictions are powerless to do so. Again, greed is absent from a mind without greed, but ignorance is present in every such mind; and in those who do not cultivate wisdom, ignorance constantly abides in the mind.

Furthermore, among all afflictions, ignorance is the most powerful. As a sutra says, the fault of ignorance is grave and difficult to eliminate.

Furthermore, ignorance is the root of the twelve links of dependent origination. If there were no ignorance, karma would neither accumulate nor come to fulfillment. How is this known?

Arhats have no perception of a sentient being; because they are without ignorance, their karma cannot accumulate and come to fulfillment. Since karma does not accumulate, consciousness and the other links cannot arise again. Thus, one knows that ignorance is the root of all suffering.

Moreover, it is plainly evident that people become attached to this impure body and, amid impermanence, conceive it to be permanent, just as an empty fist is held out to deceive a small child, or as an illusionist manifests illusions to deceive people and make them see the earth as gold. Common people also say that a fool may presently compound his wrongdoing and may likewise be deceived by words. The world is the same: although people see impurity with their own eyes, they still allow themselves to be deceived by it.

Moreover, mental dharmas perish completely from thought-moment to thought-moment, yet because their characteristics are grasped, they arise anew. After form has completely perished, its characteristics are grasped because of delusion; the same is also true of sound and the other objects. Therefore, ignorance is difficult to eliminate.

These are the faults of ignorance.

Question: What are the characteristics of a person with much ignorance?

Answer: Such a person does not fear what ought to be feared and does not rejoice in what ought to bring joy; envies good people and delights in evil people; opposes the wishes of others and constantly delights in contradiction; stubbornly clings to wrong matters; has little sense of shame and gives no thought to suspicion or reproach; cannot bring joy to others and is also difficult to please; cannot draw close to anyone, and others likewise find it difficult to draw close to him; is foolish, fearful, and uncomprehending; likes to wear filthy clothing and enjoys entering dark and impure places; is haughty and arrogant, readily despises others, cares nothing for reason, and boasts of his own merit; does not recognize faults as faults or benefits as benefits;

does not delight in cleanliness and lacks dignified deportment; is clumsy in speech and is habitually resentful and angry; steals the teachings of others and becomes deeply attached to them; finds study and recitation difficult to master and, once mastered, easily loses them; even if he acquires learning, he cannot explain its meaning; and even if he explains the meaning, he explains it wrongly and incoherently.

All such characteristics arise from ignorance. One should therefore know that ignorance has immeasurable faults and must consequently be severed.

Question: How can it be severed?

Answer: By skillfully cultivating true wisdom, it is severed and extinguished.

Question: Knowledge of the skandhas, dhatus, and so forth is also called true wisdom. Why, then, does a sutra say that the medicine for ignorance is either causes and conditions or contemplation of causes and conditions?

Answer: The followers of non-Buddhist schools misunderstand the causes within phenomena. Because they misunderstand causes, they say that Isvara and the like created the world. Because they misunderstand the causes within phenomena, they say that there is dravya, that there is a possessor of parts, and so forth. When one contemplates dharmas as arising through causes and conditions, these errors cease.

Question: Causes and conditions are called the medicine that cures ignorance. Why, then, are two kinds spoken of?

Answer: It is because one wishes to encompass all forms of knowledge. If one contemplates the skandhas, dhatus, and ayatanas, one can likewise destroy ignorance. Yet ignorance is the gravest, and therefore it is called wrong view. Wrong view is severed through causes and conditions; hence, two kinds are spoken of. Craving and stinginess are likewise so.

Furthermore, people in the world are mistaken regarding designations such as “jar.” For example, upon hearing the word “jar,” they become doubtful: Are form and the other qualities themselves the jar, or is there a jar existing separately apart from form and the other qualities? Likewise, they doubt whether the five skandhas themselves are the person, or whether there is a separate person apart from the five skandhas. If the mind reaches a fixed conclusion, it falls into the two extremes, namely annihilationism and eternalism. The question of whether the body is itself the spirit, or whether the body is one thing and the spirit another, is likewise so.

If a person understands that a jar arises from various conditions and is constituted through form, odor, taste, and touch, and likewise understands that form and the other skandhas constitute the person, that person can abandon the delusion arising from designations. Such designations can obscure the true meaning of all dharmas. As stated in the Sutra on the Questions of a Deva: “Names prevail over all dharmas; nothing surpasses them.” Through this single dharma of designation, all dharmas follow accordingly.

It is also said: “By seeing the arising of the world, one severs the attachment to nonexistence; by seeing the cessation of the world, one severs the attachment to existence.” It is further said: “Because conditioned formations continuously succeed one another, the five skandhas continue throughout birth and death.” All these are faults of ignorance, which are severed by contemplating causes and conditions.

Furthermore, the sutra says: “Whoever sees dependent origination has thereby seen the Dharma.” Whoever sees the Dharma sees the Buddha. Thus, one who can sever the delusion arising from designations truly sees the Buddha and does not depend upon learning from another. Therefore, ignorance can be ended only through right knowledge. It is precisely through knowing the Dharma of causes and conditions that one can attain right knowledge.

Moreover, all the wisdom contained in the eighty-four thousand teachings within the Dharma treasury is intended to eliminate ignorance, for ignorance is the root of all afflictions and assists all afflictions. Through causes and conditions understood in this manner, ignorance is severed.

End of Fascicle Nine of the Satyasiddhi Shastra.