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 64.      xi.  The charnel-ground-dweller’s practice is undertaken with one of the following statements: ‘I refuse what is not a charnel ground’ or ‘I undertake the charnel-ground-dweller’s practice’.

         Now the charnel-ground dweller should not live in some place just because the people who built the village have called it ‘the charnel ground’ for it is not a charnel ground unless a dead body has been burnt on it. But as soon as one has been burnt on it, it becomes a charnel ground. And even if it has been neglected for a dozen years, it is so still.

 65.      One who dwells there, should not be the sort of person who gets walks, pavilions, etc., built, has beds and chairs set out and drinking and washing water kept ready, and preaches Dhamma; for this ascetic practice is a momentous thing. Whoever goes to live there should be diligent. And he should first inform the senior elder of the Order or the king’s local representative in order to prevent trouble. When he walks up and down, he should do so looking at the pyre with half an eye. [77] On his way to the charnel ground he should avoid the main roads and take a by-path. He should define all the objects [there] while it is day, so that they will not assume frightening shapes for him at night. Even if non-human beings wander about screeching, he must not hit them with anything. It is not allowed to miss going to the charnel ground even for a single day. The Reciters of the Anguttara say that after spending the middle watch in the charnel ground he is allowed to leave in the last watch. He should not take such foods as sesamum flour, pease pudding, fish, meat, milk, oil, sugar, etc., which are liked by non-human beings. He should not enter the homes of families.16 These are the directions for it. 

 66.      This has three grades too. Herein, one who is strict should live where there are always burnings and corpses and mourning. The medium one is allowed to live where there are one of these three. The mild one is allowed to live in a place that possesses the bare characteristics of a charnel ground already stated.

When any one of these three makes his abode in some place not a charnel ground, his ascetic practice is broken. It is on the day on which he does not go to the charnel ground, the Anguttara Reciters say. This is the breach in this case.

 67.      The benefits are these. He acquires mindfulness of death; he lives diligently; the sign of foulness is available see Ch. VI); greed for sense desires is removed; he constantly sees the body’s true nature; he has a great sense of urgency; he abandons vanity of health, etc; he vanquishes fear and dread (see M. Sutta 4); non-human beings respect and honor him, he lives in conformity with [the principles of] fewness of wishes, and so on.

 68.      Even in sleep the dweller in a charnel ground shows naught

Of negligence, for death is ever present to his thought;

He may be sure there is no lust after sense pleasure preys

Upon his mind, with many corpses present to his gaze.

Rightly he strives because he gains a sense of urgency,

While in his search for final peace he curbs all vanity.

Let him that feels a leaning to nibbana in his heart

Embrace this practice for it has rare virtues to impart.

This is the commentary on the undertaking, directions, grades, breach, and benefits, in the case of the charnel-ground dweller’s practice. [78]

 69.      xii.  The any-bed-user’s practice is undertaken with one of the following statements: ‘I refuse greed for resting places’ or ‘I undertake the any-bed-user’s practice’.

The any-bed user should be content with whatever resting place he gets thus: ‘This falls to your lot’. He must not make anyone else shift [from his bed]. These are the directions.

 70.      This has three grades too. Herein, one who is strict is not allowed to ask about the resting place that has fallen to his lot ‘Is it far?’ or ‘Is it near?’ or ‘Is it infested by non-human beings, snakes, and so on?’ or ‘Is it hot?’ or ‘Is it cold?’. The medium one is allowed to ask, but not to go and inspect it. The mild one is allowed to inspect it and, if he does not like it, to choose another.

As soon as greed for resting places arises in any one of these three, his ascetic practice is broken. This is the breach in this instance.

 71.      The benefits are these. The advice ‘He should be content ‘with what he gets’ (Ja. I, 476; Vin. Iv, 259) is carried out; he regards the welfare of his fellows in the life of purity; he gives up caring about inferiority and superiority; approval and disapproval are abandoned; the door is closed against excessive wishes; he lives in conformity with [the principles] of fewness of wishes, and so on.

 72.               One vowed to any bed will be

Content with what he gets, and he

Can sleep in bliss without dismay

On nothing but a spread of hay.

He is not eager for the best,

No lowly couch does he detest,

He aids his young companions too

That to the monk’s good life are new.

So for a wise man to delight

In any kind of bed is right;

A Noble One this custom loves

As one the Sage’s Lord approves.

This is the commentary on the undertaking, directions, grades, breach, and benefits, in the case of the any-bed-user’s practice.

 73.      xiii.  The sitter’s practice is undertaken with one of the following statements: ‘I refuse lying down’ or ‘I undertake the sitter’s practice’.

The sitter can get up in any one of three watches of the night and walk up and down; for lying down is the only posture not allowed. These are the directions. [79]

 74.      This has three grades too. Herein, one who is strict is not allowed a backrest or cloth band or binding-strap [to prevent falling while asleep].17 The medium one is allowed any one of these three. The mild one is allowed a backrest, a cloth band, a binding-strap, a cushion, ‘five-limb’ and a ‘seven-limb’. A ‘five-limb’ is [chair] made with [four legs and] a support for the back. A ‘seven limb’ is one made with [four legs] a support for the back and an [arm support] on each side. They made that, it seems, for the Elder Pithabhaya (Abhaya of the Chair). The Elder became a Non-returner, and then attained nibbana.

As soon as any one of these three lies down, his ascetic practice is broken. This it the breach in this instance.

 75.      The benefits are these. The mental shackle described thus, ‘He dwells indulging in the pleasure of lying prone, the ‘pleasure of lolling, the pleasure of torpor’ (M. I, 102), is severed; his sate is suitable for devotion to any meditation subject; his deportment inspires confidence; his sate favors the application of energy; he develops the right practice.

 76.               The adept that can place crosswise

His feet to rest upon his thighs

And sit with back erect shall make

Foul Mara’s evil heart to quake.

No more in supine joys to plump

And wallow in lethargic dump;

Who sits for rest and finds it good

Shines forth in the Ascetics’ Wood.

The happiness and bliss it brings

Has naught to do with worldly things;

So must the Sitter’s Vow befit

The manners of a man of wit.

This is the commentary on the undertaking, directions, grades, breach, and benefits, in the case of the sitter’s practice.

 77.      Now there is the commentary according to the stanza:

(4) As to the Profitable Triad

(5) ‘Ascetic’ and so on distinguished,

(6)     As to groups, and also

(7)     Singly, the exposition should be known (see §3).

 78.      4.  Herein, as the Profitable Triad (see Dhs. P. I): all the ascetic practices, that is to say, those of trainers, ordinary men, and men whose cankers have been destroyed, may be either profitable or [in the Arahant’s case] indeterminate. [80] No ascetic practice is unprofitable. But if someone should say: There is also an unprofitable ascetic practice because of the words ‘One of evil wishes, a prey to wishes, becomes a forest dweller’ (A. ii, 219), etc., he should be told: We have not said that he does not live in the forest with unprofitable consciousness. Whoever has his dwelling in the forest is a forest dweller; and he may be one of evil wishes or of few wishes. But, as it was said above (§11), they ‘are the practices (anga) of a bhikkhu who is ascetic (dhuta) because he has shaken off (dhuta) defilements by undertaking one or other of them. Or the knowledge that has got the name “ascetic practices (dhutanga)”. Or alternatively, they are ascetic (dhuta) because they shake off (niddhunana) opposition, and they are practices (anga) because they are a way (patipatti)’. Now no one called ‘ascetic’ on account of what is unprofitable could have these as his practices; nor does what is unprofitable shake off anything so that those things to which it belonged as a practice could be called ‘ascetic practices’. And what is unprofitable does not both shake off cupidity for robes, etc., and become the practice of the way. Consequently it was rightly said that no ascetic practice is unprofitable.

 79.      And those who hold that an ascetic practice is outside the Profitable Triad18 have no ascetic practice as regards meaning. Owing to the shaking off of what could, what is non-existent, be called an ascetic practice? Also there are the words ‘Proceeded to undertake the ascetic qualities’ (Vin. iii, 15), and it follows19 that those words are contradicted. So that should not be accepted.

This, in the first place, is the commentary on the Profitable Triad.

 80.      5.  As to ‘ascetic’ and so on distinguished; the following things should be understood, that is to say, ascetic, a preacher of asceticism, ascetic states, ascetic practices, and for whom the cultivation of ascetic practices is suitable.

 81.      Herein, ascetic means either a person whose defilements are shaken off, or a state that entails shaking off defilements.  

A preacher of asceticism: one is ascetic but not a preacher of asceticism, another is not ascetic but a preacher of asceticism, another is neither ascetic nor a preacher of asceticism, and another is both ascetic and a preacher of asceticism.

 82.      Herein, one who has shaken off his defilements with an ascetic practice but does not advise and instruct another in an ascetic practice, like the Elder Bakkhula, is ‘ascetic but not a preacher of asceticism’, according as it is said ‘Now the venerable Bakkhula was ascetic but not a preacher of asceticism’. One who [81] has not shaken off his own defilements, but only advises and instructs another in an ascetic practice, like the Elder Upananda is ‘not ascetic but a preacher of asceticism’, according as it is said ‘Now the venerable Upananda son of the Sakyans was not ascetic but a preacher of asceticism’. One who has failed in both, like Laludayin, is neither ascetic nor a preacher of asceticism’, according as it is said ‘Now the venerable Laludayin was neither ascetic nor a preacher of asceticism’. One who has succeeded in both, like the General of the Dhamma, is ‘both ascetic and a preacher of asceticism’, according as it is said ‘Now the venerable Sariputta was ascetic and a preacher of asceticism’.

 83.      Ascetic states: the five states that go with the volition of an ascetic practice, that is to say, fewness of wishes, contentment, effacement, seclusion, and that specific quality20 are called ‘ascetic states’ because of the words ‘Depending on fewness of wishes’ (A. iii, 219), and so on.

 84.      Herein, fewness of wishes and contentment are non-greed. Effacement and seclusion belong to the two states, non-greed and non-delusion. That specific quality is knowledge. Herein, by means of non-greed a man shakes off greed for things that are forbidden. By means of non-delusion he shakes off the delusion that hides the dangers in those same things. And by means of non-greed he shakes off indulgence in pleasure due to sense desires that occurs under the heading in pleasure due to sense desires that occurs under the heading of using what is allowed. And by means of non-delusion he shakes off indulgence itself mortification that occurs under the heading of excessive effacement in the ascetic practices. That is why these states should be understood as ‘ascetic states’.

 85.      Ascetic practices: these should be understood as the thirteen that is to say, the refuse-rag-wearer’s practice, . . . the sitter’s practice, which have already been described as to meaning and as to characteristic, and so on.

 86.      For whom the cultivation of ascetic practices is suitable: [they are suitable] for one of greedy temperament and for one of deluded temperament. Why? Because the cultivation of ascetic practices is both a difficult progress21 and an abiding in effacement; and greed subsides with the difficult progress, while delusion is got rid of in those diligent by effacement. Or the cultivation of the forest-dweller’s practice and the tree-root-dweller’s practice here are suitable for one of hating temperament; for hate too subsides in one who dwells there without coming into conflict.

This is the commentary ‘as to “ascetic” and so on distinguished’. [82]

 87.        6. and 7.  As to groups and also singly. Now 6. as to groups: these ascetic practices are in fact only eight, that is to say, three principal and five individual practices. Herein, the three, namely, the house-to-house-seeker’s practice, the one-sessioner’s practice, and the open-air-dweller’s practice, are principal practices. For one who keeps the house-to house-seeker’s practice will keep the alms-food-eater’s practice; and the bowl-food-eater’s practice and the later-food-refuser’s practice will be well kept by one who keeps the one-sessioner’s practice. And what need has one who keeps the open-air-dweller’s practice to keep the tree-root-dweller’s practice or the any-bed-user’s practice? So there are these three principal practices that, together with the five individual practices, that is to say, the forest-dweller’s practice, the refuse-rag-wearer’s practice, the triple-robe-wearer’s practice, the sitter’s practice and the charnel-ground-dweller’s practice, come to eight only.

 88.        Again they come to four, that is to say, two connected with robes, five connected with alms food, five connected with the resting place, and one connected with energy. Herein, it is the sitter’s practice that is connected with energy; the rest are obvious.

  Again they all amount to two only, since twelve are dependent on requisites and one (on) energy. Also they are two according to what is and what is not to be cultivated. For when one cultivating an ascetic practice finds that his meditation subject improves, he should cultivate it; but when he is cultivating one and finds that his meditation subject deteriorates, he should not cultivate it. But when he finds that, whether he cultivates one or not, his meditation subject only improves and does not deteriorate; he should cultivate them out of compassion for later generations. And when he finds that, whether he cultivates them or not, his meditation subject does not improve; he should still cultivate them for the sake of acquiring the habit for the future. So they are of two kind of what is and what is not to be cultivated.

 89.        And all are of one kind as volition. For there is only one ascetic practice, namely, that consisting in the volition of undertaking. Also it is said in the Commentary ‘It is the volition that is the ascetic practice, they say’.

 90.        7.  Singly: with thirteen for bhikkhus, eight for bhikkhunis, twelve for novices, seven for female probationers and female novices, and two for male and female lay followers, there are thus forty-two.

 91.        If there is a charnel ground in the open that complies with the forest-dweller’s practice, one bhikkhu is able to put all the ascetic practices into effect simultaneously. But the two, namely, the forest-dweller’s practice and the later-food-refuser’s practice are forbidden to bhikkhunis by training precept. [83] And it is hard for them to observe the three, namely, the open-air-dweller’s practice, the tree-root-dweller’s practice, and the charnel-ground-dweller’s practice, because a bhikkhunis is not allowed to live without a companion, and it is hard to find a female companion with like desire for such a place, and even if available, she would not escape having to live in company. This being so, the purpose of cultivating the ascetic practice would scarcely be served. It is because they are reduced by five owing to this inability to make use of certain of them that they are to be understood as eight only for bhikkhunis.

 92.        Except for the triple-robe-wearer’s practice all the other twelve as stated should be understood to be for novices, and all the other seven for female probationers and female novices.

  The two, namely, the one-sessioner’s practice and the bowl [food-eater’s practice, are proper for male and female lay followers to employ. In this way there are two ascetic practices.

  This is the commentary ‘as to groups and also singly’.

 93.        And this is the end of the treatise on the ascetic practices to be undertaken for the purpose of perfecting those special qualities of fewness of wishes, contentment, etc., by means of which there comes about the cleansing of virtue as described in the Path of Purification, which is shown under the three headings of virtue, concentration and understanding, contained in the stanza,

            ‘When a wise man, established well in virtue’ (Ch. I, §1). 

        The second chapter called ‘the Description of the Ascetic Practices’ in the Path of Purification composed for the purpose of gladdening good people.