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What is 狈颈产产腻苍补, friend? The destruction of lust, the destruction of hatred, the destruction of delusion鈥攖hat, friend, is called 狈颈产产腻苍补.

鈥� Sa峁儁utta 狈颈办腻测补

In contradistinction to 蝉补峁僺腻谤补, the phenomenal existence, 狈颈产产腻苍补 is lasting (dhuva), desirable (subha), and happy (sukha).

According to Buddhism all things, mundane and supramundane, are classified into two divisions, namely, those conditioned by causes (蝉补峁噆丑补迟补) and those not conditioned by any cause (a蝉补峁噆丑补迟补).

"These three are the features of all conditioned things (sankhatalakkhani): arising (耻辫辫腻诲补), cessation (vaya), and change of state (thitassa a帽帽athatta峁�)." ^[1]

Arising or becoming is an essential characteristic of everything that is conditioned by a cause or causes. That which arises or becomes is subject to change and dissolution. Every conditioned thing is constantly becoming and is perpetually changing. The universal law of change applies to everything in the cosmos鈥攂oth mental and physical鈥攔anging from the minutest germ or tiniest particle to the highest being or the most massive object. Mind, though imperceptible, changes faster even than matter.

狈颈产产腻苍补, a supramundane state, realised by Buddhas and arahants, is declared to be not conditioned by any cause. Hence it is not subject to any becoming, change and dissolution. It is birthless (补箩腻迟补), decayless (补箩补谤腻), and deathless (amara). Strictly speaking, 狈颈产产腻苍补 is neither a cause nor an effect. Hence it is unique (kevala).

Everything that has sprung from a cause must inevitably pass away, and as such is undesirable (asubha).

Life is man's dearest possession, but when he is confronted with insuperable difficulties and unbearable burdens, then that very life becomes an intolerable burden. Sometimes he tries to seek relief by putting an end to his life as if suicide would solve all his individual problems.

Bodies are adorned and adored. But those charming, adorable and enticing forms, when disfigured by time and disease, become extremely repulsive.

Men desire to live peacefully and happily with their near ones, surrounded by amusements and pleasures, but, if by some misfortune, the wicked world runs counter to their ambitions and desires, the inevitable sorrow is then almost indescribably sharp.

The following beautiful parable aptly illustrates the fleeting nature of life and its alluring pleasures.

A man was forcing his way through a thick forest beset with thorns and stones. Suddenly to his great consternation, an elephant appeared and gave chase. He took to his heels through fear, and, seeing a well, he ran to hide in it. But to his horror he saw a viper at the bottom of the well. However, lacking other means of escape, he jumped into the well, and clung to a thorny creeper that was growing in it. Looking up, he saw two mice鈥攁 white one and a black one鈥攇nawing at the creeper. Over his face there was a beehive from which occasional drops of honey trickled.

This man, foolishly unmindful of this precarious position, was greedily tasting the honey. A kind person volunteered to show him a path of escape. But the greedy man begged to be excused till he had enjoyed himself.

The thorny path is 蝉补峁僺腻谤补, the ocean of life. Man's life is not a bed of roses. It is beset with difficulties and obstacles to overcome, with opposition and unjust criticism, with attacks and insults to be borne. Such is the thorny path of life.

The elephant here resembles death; the viper, old age; the creeper, birth; the two mice, night and day. The drops of honey correspond to the fleeting sensual pleasures. The man represents the so-called being. The kind person represents the Buddha.

The temporary material happiness is merely the gratification of some desire. When the desired thing is gained, another desire arises. Insatiate are all desires.

Sorrow is essential to life, and cannot be evaded.

狈颈产产腻苍补, being non-conditioned, is lasting (dhuva), desirable (subha), and happy (sukha).

The happiness of 狈颈产产腻苍补 should be differentiated from ordinary worldly happiness. Nibb膩nic bliss grows neither stale nor monotonous. It is a form of happiness that never wearies, never fluctuates. It arises by allaying passions (惫奴辫补蝉补尘补) unlike that temporary worldly happiness which results from the gratification of some desire (vedayita).

In the Bahuvedan墨ya Sutta (MN 57) the Buddha enumerates ten grades of happiness beginning with the gross material pleasures which result from the pleasant stimulation of the senses. As one ascends higher and higher in the moral plane the type of happiness becomes ever more exalted, sublime and subtle, so much so that the world scarcely recognises it as happiness. In the first 箩丑腻苍补 one experiences a transcendental happiness (sukha), absolutely independent of the five senses. This happiness is realised by inhibiting the desire for the pleasures of the senses, highly prized by the materialist. In the fourth 箩丑腻苍补 however, even this type of happiness is discarded as coarse and unprofitable, and equanimity (upekkha) is termed happiness.

The Buddha says: ^[2]

"Fivefold, 脕nanda, are sensual bonds. What are the five? Forms cognisable by the eye鈥攄esirable, lovely, charming, infatuating, accompanied by thirst, and arousing the dust of the passions; sounds cognisable by the ear … odours cognisable by the nose … flavours cognisable by the tongue … contacts cognisable by the body鈥攄esirable, lovely charming, infatuating, accompanied by thirst, and arousing the dust of passions. These, 脕nanda, are the five sensual bonds.

Whatever happiness or pleasure arises from these sensual bonds is known as sensual happiness.

"Whoso should declare: 'This is the highest happiness and pleasure which beings may experience' I do not grant him that, and why? Because there is other happiness more exalted and sublime.

"And what is that other happiness more exalted and sublime? Here a bhikkhu lives, completely separated from sense-desires, remote from immoral states, with initial and sustained application born of seclusion, in joy and happiness abiding in the first ecstasy (pa峁環ama 箩丑腻苍补). This is happiness more exalted and sublime.

"But should anyone declare: 'This is the highest happiness and pleasure which beings may experience'鈥擨 do not grant him that, and why? Because there is another happiness yet more exalted and sublime.

"Here a bhikkhu, stilling initial and sustained application, having tranquillity within, mind one-pointed, initial and sustained application having ceased, as a result of concentration lives in joy and happiness, abiding in the second ecstasy (dutiya 箩丑腻苍补). This is the other happiness more exalted and sublime.

"Yet should anyone declare that this is the highest happiness and pleasure experienced by beings鈥擨 do not grant it. There is happiness more exalted.

"Here a bhikkhu, eliminating joy, abides serene, mindful, and completely conscious, experiencing in the body that of which the ariyas say: 'Endowed with equanimity and mindfulness he abides in bliss.' Thus he lives abiding in the third ecstasy (tatiya 箩丑腻苍补). This is the other happiness and pleasure more exalted and sublime.

"Still should anyone declare that this is the highest happiness鈥擨 do not grant it. There is happiness more exalted.

"Here a bhikkhu, abandoning pleasure and pain, leaving behind former joy and grief鈥攑ainless, pleasureless, perfect in equanimity and mindfulness鈥攍ives abiding in the fourth ecstasy (catuttha 箩丑腻苍补). This is the other happiness more exalted and sublime.

"However, were this declared to be the highest happiness鈥擨 do not grant it. There is happiness more sublime.

"Here a bhikkhu, passing entirely beyond the perception of form, with the disappearance of sense reaction, freed from attention to perceptions of diversity, thinks: 'infinite is space'鈥攁nd lives abiding in the realm of infinite space (腻办腻蝉腻苍补帽肠腻测补迟补苍补). This other happiness is more exalted and sublime.

"Nevertheless, if this were declared the highest happiness鈥擨 do not grant it. There is happiness more sublime.

"Here a bhikkhu, transcending entirely the realm of infinite space, thinks: 'infinite is consciousness', and lives abiding in the realm of infinite consciousness (惫颈帽帽腻峁嘺帽肠腻测补迟补苍补). This other happiness is more exalted and sublime.

"And yet should this be declared the highest happiness鈥擨 do not grant. There is higher happiness.

"Here a bhikkhu, transcending the realm of infinite consciousness, thinks: 'There is nothing whatsoever' and lives abiding in the realm of nothingness (腻办颈帽肠补帽帽腻测补迟补苍补). This other happiness is more exalted and sublime than that.

"And still were this declared the highest happiness鈥擨 do not grant it. There is happiness more exalted.

"Here a bhikkhu, passing entirely beyond the realm of nothingness, lives abiding in the realm of neither-perception-nor-non-perception (苍别惫补蝉补帽帽腻苍腻蝉补帽帽补测补迟补苍补). This other happiness is more exalted and sublime.

"Yet whoso should declare: 'This is the highest bliss and pleasure which beings may experience'鈥攍 do not grant him that, and why? Because yet another happiness is more exalted and sublime.

"And what is this other happiness more exalted and sublime? Here a bhikkhu, utterly transcending the realm of neither-perception-nor-non-perception, lives, having attained to the cessation of perception and sensation (蝉补帽帽腻惫别诲补测颈迟补-nirodha). This, 脕nanda, is the other happiness more exalted and sublime."

Of all the ten grades of happiness this is the highest and the most sublime. This transcendental state is nirodha sam膩patti, that is, experiencing 狈颈产产腻苍补 in this life itself.

As the Buddha himself has anticipated, one may ask: "How can that state be called highest happiness when there is no consciousness to experience it."

The Buddha replies: "Nay, disciples, the 罢补迟丑腻驳补迟补 does not recognise bliss merely because of a pleasurable sensation, but, disciples, wherever bliss is attained there and there only does the Accomplished One recognise bliss." ^[3]

"I proclaim," says the Buddha, "that everything experienced by the senses is sorrow." But why? Because one in sorrow craves to be happy, and the so-called happy crave to be happier still. So insatiate is worldly happiness.

In conventional terms the Buddha declares:

It is bliss supreme because it is not a kind of happiness experienced by the senses. It is a blissful state of positive relief from the ills of life.

The very fact of the cessation of suffering is ordinarily termed happiness, though this is not an appropriate word to depict its real nature.

Where is 狈颈产产腻苍补?

In the Milindapa帽ha the Venerable 狈腻驳补蝉别苍补 answers this question thus:

There is no spot looking East, South, West, or North, above, below or beyond, where 狈颈产产腻苍补 is situate, and yet 狈颈产产腻苍补 is, and he who orders his life aright, grounded in virtue and with rational attention, may realise it whether he lives in Greece, China, Alexandria, or in Kosala.

Just as fire is not stored up in any particular place but arises when the necessary conditions exist, so 狈颈产产腻苍补 is said not to exist in a particular place, but it is attained when the necessary conditions are fulfilled.

In the Rohitassa Sutta the Buddha states:

In this very one-fathom-long body, along with its perceptions and thoughts, do I proclaim the world, the origin of the world, the cessation of the world and the path leading to the cessation of the world. ^[4]

Here "world" means suffering. The cessation of the world, therefore, means the cessation of suffering which is 狈颈产产腻苍补.

One's 狈颈产产腻苍补 is dependent upon this one-fathom body. It is not something that is created nor is it something to be created. ^[5]

狈颈产产腻苍补 is there where the four elements of cohesion (腻辫辞), extension (辫补峁环补惫墨), heat (tejo), and motion (惫腻测辞) find no footing.

Referring to where 狈颈产产腻苍补 is, Sa峁儁utta 狈颈办腻测补 states: ^[6]

Where the four elements that cleave, and stretch,
And burn, and move, no further footing find.

In the Ud腻苍补 ^[7] the Buddha says:

Just as, O bhikkhus, notwithstanding those rivers that reach the great ocean and the torrents of rain that fall from the sky, neither a deficit nor a surplus is perceptible in the great ocean, even so despite the many bhikkhus that enter the remainderless 辫补谤颈苍颈产产腻苍补 there is neither a deficit nor a surplus in the element of 狈颈产产腻苍补.

狈颈产产腻苍补 is, therefore, not a kind of heaven where a transcendental ego resides, but a Dhamma (an attainment) which is within the reach of us all.

An eternal heaven, which provides all forms of pleasures desired by man and where one enjoys happiness to one's heart's content, is practically inconceivable. It is absolutely impossible to think that such a place could exist permanently anywhere.

Granting that there is no place where 狈颈产产腻苍补 is stored up, King Milinda questions Venerable 狈腻驳补蝉别苍补 whether there is any basis where-on a man may stand and, ordering his life aright, realise 狈颈产产腻苍补:

"Yes, O King, there is such a basis."

"Which, then, Venerable 狈腻驳补蝉别苍补, is that basis?"

"Virtue, O King, is that basis. For, if grounded in virtue, and careful in attention, whether in the land of the Scythians or the Greeks, whether in China or in Tartary, whether in Alexandria or in Nikumba, whether in Benares or in Kosala, whether in Kashmir or in 骋补苍诲丑腻谤补, whether on a mountain top or in the highest heavens,鈥攚herever he may be, the man who orders his life aright will attain 狈颈产产腻苍补." ^[8]

What Attains 狈颈产产腻苍补?

This question must necessarily be set aside as irrelevant, for Buddhism denies the existence of a permanent entity or an immortal soul. ^[9]

The so-called being of which we often hear as the "vestment of the soul" is a mere bundle of conditioned factors.

The arahant 产丑颈办办丑耻峁嚹� Vajir膩 says:

And just as when the parts are rightly set,
The word chariot arises (in our minds),
So doth our usage covenant to say
A being when the aggregates are there. ^[10]

According to Buddhism the so-called being consists of mind and matter (苍腻尘补-谤奴辫补) which constantly change with lightning rapidity. Apart from these two composite factors there exists no permanent soul or an unchanging entity. The so-called "I" is also an illusion.

Instead of an eternal soul or an illusory "I" Buddhism posits a dynamic life-flux (santati) which flows ad infinitum as long as it is fed with ignorance and craving. When these two root causes are eradicated by any individual on attaining arahantship, they cease to flow with his final death.

In conventional terms one says that the arahant has attained 辫补谤颈苍颈产产腻苍补 or passed away into 狈颈产产腻苍补.

As right here and now, there is neither a permanent ego nor an identical being it is needless to state that there can be no "I" or a soul (atta) in 狈颈产产腻苍补.

The Visuddhimagga states:

Misery only doth exist, none miserable;
Nor doer is there, nought save the deed is found;
狈颈产产腻苍补 is, but not the man who seeks it;
The path exists, but not the traveller on it.

The chief difference between the Buddhist conception of 狈颈产产腻苍补 and the Hindu conception of Nirv腻苍补 or Mukti lies in the fact that Buddhists view their goal without an eternal soul and creator, while Hindus do believe in an eternal soul and a creator.

This is the reason why Buddhism can neither be called eternalism nor nihilism.

In 狈颈产产腻苍补 nothing is 'eternalised' nor is anything 'annihilated.'

As Sir Edwin Arnold says:

lf any teach Nirv腻苍补 is to cease,
Say unto such they lie.
If any teach Nirv腻苍补 is to live,
Say unto such they err.

 

It must be admitted that this question of 狈颈产产腻苍补 is the most difficult in the teaching of the Buddha. However much we may speculate we shall never be in a position to comprehend its real nature. The best way to understand 狈颈产产腻苍补 is to try to realise it with our own intuitive knowledge.

Although 狈颈产产腻苍补 cannot be perceived by the five senses and lies in obscurity in so far as the average man is concerned, the only straight path that leads to 狈颈产产腻苍补 has been explained by the Buddha with all the necessary details and is laid open to all. The goal is now clouded, but the method of achievement is perfectly clear and when that achievement is realised, the goal is as clear as "the moon free from clouds."

Footnotes and references:

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[1]:

See Gradual Sayings, i, p. 135.

[2]:

Majjhima 狈颈办腻测补, No. 57 The Blessing, No. 4, pp. 129-132.

[3]:

Majjhima 狈颈办腻测补, No. 57.

[4]:

Sa峁儁utta 狈颈办腻测补, i, p. 62.

[5]:

"Verily this (nibb腻苍补) is to be attained (or realised) by means of the four paths of sainthood, and is not to be produced." 鈥�Visuddhimagga .

[6]:

Kindred Sayings, pt. i, p. 23. Yattha 腻辫辞 ca 辫补峁环补惫墨 tejo 惫腻测辞 na gadhati.

[7]:

See Woodward, Verses of Uplift, pp. 66-67.

[8]:

Questions of King Milinda, pp. 202-204.

[9]:

See Chapter 29.

[10]:

Kindred Sayings, part 1, p. 170.