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43. Here is an
explanatory exposition together with a word-commentary, starting from the
beginning. 44. The meaning
of possessed of [the proper] conduct
and resort etc., should be understood in the way in which it is given
in the text. For this is said : ‘Possessed of [the proper] ‘conduct and
resort: there is [proper] conduct and improper conduct. Herein, what is
improper conduct? Bodily transgression, verbal transgression, bodily and
verbal transgressions—this is called improper conduct. Also all
unvirtuousness is improper conduct. Here someone makes a livelihood by
gifts of bamboos, or by gifts of leaves, or by gifts of flowers, fruits,
bathing powder, and tooth sticks, or by flattery, or by bean-sou0ery, or
by fondling, or by going on errands on foot, or by one or other of the
sorts of wrong livelihood condemned by the Buddhas—this is called improper
conduct. Herein, what is [proper] conduct? Bodily non-transgression,
verbal non-transgression, bodily and verbal non-transgression—this is
called [proper] conduct. Also all restraint through virtue is [proper]
conduct. Here someone does not make a livelihood by gifts of bamboos, or
by gifts of leaves, or by gifts of flowers, fruits, bathing powder, and
tooth sticks, or by flattery, or by bean-soupery, or by fondling, or by
going on errands on foot, or by one or other of the sorts of wrong
livelihood condemned by the Buddhas—this is called [proper] conduct. 45. ‘[Proper] resort:
there is [proper] resort and improper ‘resort. Herein, what is improper
resort? Here someone has ‘prostitutes as resort, or he has widows, old
maids, eunuchs, ‘bhikkhunis, or taverns as resort; or he dwells associated
with ‘kings, kings’ ministers, sectarians, sectarians’ disciples, in
‘unbecoming association with laymen; or he cultivates, ‘frequents, honors,
such families as are faithless, untrusting, ‘abusive and rude, who wish
harm, wish ill, wish woe, wish ‘no surcease of bondage, for bhikkhus and
bhikkhunis, for ‘male and female devotees [18]—this is called improper
‘resort. Herein, what is [proper] resort? Here someone does ‘not have
prostitutes as resort . . . or taverns, as resort; he ‘does not dwell
associated with king, . . . sectarians’ ‘disciples, in unbecoming
association with laymen; he ‘cultivates, frequents, honors, such families
as are faithful ‘and trusting, who are a solace, where the yellow cloth
glows, ‘where the breeze of sages blows, who wish good, wish well, ‘wish
joy, wish surcease of bondage, for bhikkhus and ‘bhikkhunis, for male and
female devotees—this is called ‘[proper] resort. Thus he is furnished
with, fully furnished ‘with, provided with, fully provided with, supplied
with, ‘possessed of, endowed with, this [proper] conduct and ‘resort”’
(Vbh.246-7). 46. Furthermore
[proper] conduct and resort should also be understood here in the
following way; for improper conduct is twofold as bodily and verbal.
Herein, what is bodily improper conduct? ‘Here someone acts
disrespectfully before ‘the Community, and he stands jostling elder
bhikkhus, sits ‘jostling them, stands in front of them, sits in front of
‘them, sits on high seat, sits with his head covered, talks ‘standing up,
talks waving his arms, . . . walks with sandals ‘while elder bhikkhus walk
without sandals, walks on a high ‘walk while they walk on a low walk,
walks on a walk while ‘they walk on the ground, . . . stands pushing elder
‘bhikkhus, sits pushing them, prevents new bhikkhus from ‘getting a seat,
. . . and in the bath house . . . without asking ‘elder bhikkhus he puts
wood on [the stove], . . .
bolts the ‘door, . . . and at the bathing place he enters the water
jostling ‘elder bhikkhus, enters it in front of them, bathes jostling
‘them, bathes in front of them, comes out jostling them, ‘comes out in
front of them, . . . and entering inside a house ‘he goes jostling elder
bhikkhus, goes in front of them, ‘pushing forward he goes in front of
them, . . . and where ‘families have inner private screened rooms in which
the ‘women of the family, . . . the girls of the family, sit, there he
‘enters abruptly, and he strokes a child’s head’ (Nd1.228-9). This is
called bodily improper conduct. 47. Herein, what is
verbal improper conduct? ‘Here someone ‘acts disrespectfully before the
Community. Without asking ‘elder bhikkhus he talks on the Dhamma, answers
questions, ‘recites the Patimokkha, talks standing up, (19) talks waving
‘his arms, . . . having entered inside a house, he speaks to a ‘woman or a
girl thus “You, so-and-so of such-and-such a ‘clan, what is there? Is
there rice gruel? Is there cooked rice? ‘Is there any hard food to eat?
What shall we drink? What ‘hard food shall we eat? What soft food shall we
eat? Or ‘what will you give me?” –he chatters like this’ (Nd1.230). This
is called verbal improper
conduct. 48. Proper conduct
should be understood in the opposite sense to that. Furthermore, a bhikkhu
is respectful, deferential, possessed of conscience and shame, wears his
inner robe properly, wears his upper robe properly, his manner inspires
confidence whether in moving forwards or backwards, looking ahead or
aside, bending or stretching, his eyes are downcast, he has (a good)
deportment, he guards the doors of his sense faculties, knows the right
measure in eating, is devoted to wakefulness, possesses mindfulness and
ful-awareness, wants little, is contented, is strenuous, is a careful
observer of good behavior, and treats the teachers with great respect.
This is called (proper) conduct. 49. This firstly is how (proper) conduct should be understood. (Proper) resort is of three kinds: (proper) resort as support, (proper) resort as guarding, and (proper) resort as anchoring. Herein, what is (proper) resort as support? A good friend who exhibits the ten instances of talk,12 in whose presence one hears what has not been heard, corrects what has been heard, gets rid of doubt, rectifies one’s view, and gains confidence: or by training under whom one grows in faith, virtue, learning, generosity and understanding—this is called (proper) resort as support. 50. What is (proper) resort as guarding? Here ‘A bhikkhu, ‘having entered inside a house, having gone into a street, ‘goes with downcast eyes, seeing the length of a plough ‘yoke, restrained, not looking at an elephant, not looking at a ‘horse, a carriage, a pedestrian, a woman, a man, not looking ‘up, not looking down, not staring this way and that’ (Nd 1. 474). This is called (proper) resort as guarding. 51. What is (proper)
resort as anchoring? It is the four foundations of mindfulness on which
the mind is anchored; for this is said by the Blessed One: ‘Bhikkhus, what
is a bhikkhu’s resort, his own native place? It is these four foundations
of mindfulness’ (S.v, 148). This is called (proper) resort as
anchoring. 52. Seeing fear in the slightest fault (§ 42): one who has the habit (sila) of seeing fear in faults of the minutest measure, of such kinds as unintentional contravening of a minor training rule of the Patimokkha, as an unprofitable thought. He trains himself by undertaking (samadaya) the precepts of training: whatever there is among the precepts of training to be trained in, in all that he trains by taking it up rightly (samma adaya). And here, as far as the words ‘one restrained by the Patimokkha restraint’, virtue of Patimokkha restraint is shown by Discourse in Terms of Persons.13 But all that beginning with the words ‘possessed of (proper) conduct and resort’ should be understood as said in order to show the way of practice that perfects that virtue in him who so practices it. 53. (b) Now as regards the virtue of
restraint of faculties shown
next to that in the way beginning ‘on seeing a visible object with the
eye’, herein, ‘he’ is a bhikkhu established in the virtue of
Patimokkha restraint. On seeing a visible object with the eye: on
seeing a visible object with the eye-consciousness that is capable of
seeing visible objects and has borrowed the name ‘eye’ from its
instrument. But the Ancients (Porana) said ‘The eye dose not see a
visible object ‘because it has no mind. The mind does not see because it
has ‘no eyes. but when there is the impingement of door and ‘object he
sees by means of the consciousness that has eye-‘sensitivity as its
physical basis. Now (an idiom) such as this ‘is called an “accessory
locution (sasambharakatha)”, like ‘“He shot him with his bow”, and
so on. So the meaning here ‘is this: “On seeing a visible object with
eye-consciousness”’.14 54. Apprehends neither the signs: he does not apprehend the sign of woman or man, or any sign that is a basis for defilement such as the sign of beauty, etc.: he stops at what is merely seen. Nor the particulars: he does not apprehend any aspect looking aside, etc., which has acquired the name ‘particular (anubyanjana)’ because of its particularizing (anu anu byanjanato) defilements, because of its making them manifest themselves. He only apprehends what is really there. Like the Elder Maha-Tissa who dwelt at Cetiyapabbata. 11 The Suttavibhanga, the
first book of the Vinaya Pitaka, contains in its two parts the 227 rules
for bhikkhus and the rules for bhikkhunis, who have received the Admission
(upasampada), together with accounts of the incidents that
led to the announcement of the rules, the modifications of the rules and
the explanations of them. The bare rules themselves form the
Patimokkha for bhikkhus and that for bhikkhunis. They are also know
as the ‘Two Codes (Dve Matika)’. The Patimokkha is recited
by bhikkhus on the Uposatha days of the full-moon and new-moon. 12 The ‘ten instances of talk
(dasa kathavatthuni)’ refer to the kinds of talk given in the
Suttas thus ‘Such talk as is concerned with effacement, as favors the
heart’s release, as leads to complete dispassion, fading, cessation,
peace, direct knowledge, enlightenment, nibbana, that is to say: talk on
wanting little, contentment, seclusion, aloofness from contact,
strenuousness, virtue, concentration, understanding, deliverance,
knowledge and vision of deliverance’ (M.i, 145; iii, 113). 13 See Ch. IV, not
27. 14 ‘”On seeing a
visible object with the eye” : if the eye were to see the visible
object, then (organs) belonging to other kinds of consciousness would see
too; but that is not so. Why? Because the eye has no thought
(acetanatta). And then, were consciousness itself to see a visible
object, it would see it even behind a wall because of being independent of
sense-resistance (appatighabhavato); but that is not so either
because there is no seeing in all kinds of consciousness. And herein, it
is consciousness dependent on the eye that sees, not just any kind. And
that does not arise with respect to what is enclosed by walls, etc., where
light is excluded. But where there is no exclusion of light, as in the
case of a crystal or a mass of cloud, there it does arise even with
respect to what is enclosed by them. So it is as a basis of consciousness
that the eye sees. ‘”When
there is the impingement of door and object”: what is intended is:
when a visible datum as object has come into the eye’s focus. “One
sees”: one looks (oloketi); for when the consciousness that
has eye-sensitivity as its material support is disclosing
(obhasente) by means of the special quality of its support a
visible datum as object that is assisted by light (aloka), then it
is said that a person possessed of that sees the visible datum. And here
the illuminating is the revealing of the visible datum according to its
individual essence, in other words the apprehending of it experientially
(paccakkhato).
‘Here it
is the “sign of a woman” because it is the cause of perceiving as
“woman” all such things as the shape that is grasped under the heading of
the visible data (materiality) invariably found in a female continuity,
the un-clear-cut-ness (avisadata) of the flesh of the breasts, the
beardlessness of the face, the use of cloth to bind the hair, the
un-clear-cut stance, walk, and so on—The “sign of man” is in the
opposite sense. ‘”The
sign of beauty” here is the aspect of woman that is the cause for the
arising of lust. by the word “etc.” the sign of resentment
(patigha), etc., are included, which should be understood as the
undesired aspect that is the cause for the arising of hate. And here
admittedly only covetousness and grief are specified in the text but the
sign of equanimity needs to be included too; since there is non-restraint
in the delusion that arises due to overlooking, or since “forgetfulness or
unknowing” is said below (§57). and here the “sign of equanimity” should
be understood as an object that is the basis for the kind of equanimity
associated with unknowing through overlooking it. So “the sign of
beauty, etc.” given in brief thus is actually the cause of greed,
hate, and delusion. ‘”He
stops at what is merely seen”: according to the Sutta method “The seen
shall be merely seen” (Ud. 8). As soon as the color basis has been
apprehended by the consciousnesses of the cognitive series with
eye-consciousness he stops; he does not fancy any aspect of beauty, etc.
beyond that . . . In one who fancies as beautiful, etc., the limbs of the
opposite sex, defilements arisen with respect to them successively become
particularized, which is why they are called “particulars”. But these are
simply modes of interpreting (sannivesakara) the kinds of
materiality derived from the (four) primaries that are interpreted
(sannivittha) in such and such wise; for apart from that there is
in the ultimate sense no such thing as a hand and so on’ (Pm. 40-1). See
also Ch. III, note 31. |