“Therefore, monks, I will designate a training-rule for the monks on account of ten reasons: for the excellence of the Saṅgha, for the comfort of the Saṅgha, for the restraint of shameless people, for the comfortable abiding of well-behaved monks, for restraining existent taints51, for preventing taints in the future, for the faith of the faithless, for the increase of the faithful, for the stability of the true Dhamma, and for assisting the Vinaya.”
46 (6) The Restraint of the Pātimokkha
Then a certain bhikkhu approached the Blessed One, paid homage to him, sat down to one side, and said to him: “Venerable sir, it would be good if the Blessed One would teach me the Dhamma in brief, so that, having heard the Dhamma from the Blessed One, I might dwell alone, withdrawn, diligent, ardent, and resolute.”“In that case, bhikkhu, purify the very beginning of wholesome states. And what is the beginning of wholesome states? Here, bhikkhu, dwell restrained by the restraint of the Pātimokkha, accomplished in good conduct and proper resort, seeing danger in the slightest faults. Having undertaken the training rules, train in them. When, bhikkhu, you dwell restrained by the restraint of the Pātimokkha …seeing danger in the slightest faults, then, based upon virtue, established upon virtue, you should develop the four establishments of mindfulness. “What four? Here, bhikkhu, a bhikkhu dwells contemplating the body in the body …feelings in feelings …mind in mind …phenomena in phenomena, ardent, clearly comprehending, mindful, having removed covetousness and displeasure in regard to the world. “When, bhikkhu, based upon virtue, established upon virtue, you develop these four establishments of mindfulness in such a way, then, whether night or day comes, you may expect only growth in wholesome states, not decline.”Then that bhikkhu, having delighted and rejoiced in the Blessed One’s statement, rose from his seat.…[188] And that bhikkhu became one of the arahants.
“In that case, bhikkhu , purify the very beginning of wholesome states. And what is the beginning of wholesome states? Here, bhikkhu, having abandoned bodily misconduct, you should develop good bodily conduct. Having abandoned verbal misconduct, you should develop good verbal conduct. Having abandoned mental misconduct, you should develop good mental conduct. When, bhikkhu, having abandoned bodily misconduct … you have developed good mental conduct, then, based upon virtue, established upon virtue, you should develop the four establishments of mindfulness.
9 (9) Disputatious Talk
“Bhikkhus, do not engage in disputatious talk, 378 saying: ‘You don’t understand this Dhamma and Discipline. I understand this Dhamma and Discipline. What, you understand this Dhamma and Discipline! You’re practising wrongly, I’m practising rightly. What should have been said before you said after; what should have been said after you said before. I’m consistent, you’re inconsistent. What you took so long to think out has been overturned. Your thesis has been refuted. Go off to rescue your thesis, for you’re defeated, or disentangle yourself if you can.’For what reason? Because, bhikkhus, this talk is unbeneficial, irrelevant to the fundamentals of the holy life, and does not lead to revulsion, to dispassion, to cessation, to peace, to direct knowledge, to enlightenment, to Nibbāna.
“Bhikkhus, do not engage in the various kinds of pointless talk, 379 that is, talk about kings, thieves, and ministers of state; talk about armies, dangers, and wars; talk about food, drink, garments, and beds; talk about garlands and scents; talk about relations, vehicles, villages, towns, cities , and countries; talk about women and talk about heroes; [420] street talk and talk by the well; talk about those departed in days gone by; rambling chitchat ; speculation about the world and about the sea; talk about becoming this or that. For what reason? Because, bhikkhus, this talk is unbeneficial, irrelevant to the fundamentals of the holy life, and does not lead to revulsion, to dispassion, to cessation, to peace, to direct knowledge, to enlightenment, to Nibbāna.
“Therefore, bhikkhus, if a bhikkhu wishes: ‘May the memories and intentions connected with the household life be abandoned by me,’ this same concentration by mindfulness of breathing should be closely attended to.
XII. SEARCHES 111 (1)–120 (10) Searches, Etc.
“Bhikkhus, there are these three searches. What three? The search for sensual pleasures, the search for existence, the search for a holy life….”
Anguttara. Book o 2
15 (5) “Bhikkhus, if, in regard to a particular disciplinary issue, 231 the bhikkhu who has committed an offense and the bhikkhu who reproves him do not each thoroughly reflect upon themselves, it can be expected that this disciplinary issue [54] will lead to acrimony and animosity for a long time and the bhikkhus will not dwell at ease. But if the bhikkhu who has committed an offense and the bhikkhu who reproves him each thoroughly reflect upon themselves, it can be expected that this disciplinary issue will not lead to acrimony and animosity for a long time and the bhikkhus will dwell at ease.
127 (4) Bhāradvāja
“Great king, this was said by the Blessed One who knows and sees, the Arahant, the Fully Enlightened One: ‘Come, bhikkhus, towards women old enough to be your mother set up the idea that they are your mother; 119 [111] towards those of an age to be your sisters set up the idea that they are your sisters; towards those young enough to be your daughters set up the idea that they are your daughters.’ This is a cause and reason, great king, why these young bhikkhus … lead the complete and pure holy life all their lives and maintain it continuously.”
“The mind is wanton, Master Bhāradvāja. Sometimes states of lust arise even towards women old enough to be one’s mother; sometimes they arise towards women of an age to be one’s sister; sometimes they arise towards women young enough to be one’s daughter. Is there any other cause and reason why these young bhikkhus
“Great king, this was said by the Blessed One who knows and sees, the Arahant, the Fully Enlightened One: ‘Come, bhikkhus, review this very body upwards from the soles of the feet, downwards from the tips of the hairs, enclosed in skin, as full of many kinds of impurities: 120 “There are in this body head-hairs, body-hairs, nails, teeth, skin, flesh, sinews, bones, bone-marrow, kidneys, heart, liver, pleura, spleen, lungs, intestines, mesentery, contents of the stomach, excrement, bile, phlegm, pus , blood, sweat, fat, tears, grease, saliva, snot, fluid of the joints, urine .”’ This too, great king, is a cause and reason why these young bhikkhus … lead the complete and pure holy life all their lives and maintain it continuously.”
Sometimes, though one thinks, ‘I will attend to the body as foul,’one beholds it as beautiful. [112] Is there any other cause and reason why these young bhikkhus …lead the complete and pure holy life all their lives and maintain it continuously?”“Great king, this was said by the Blessed One who knows and sees, the Arahant, the Fully Enlightened One: ‘Come, bhikkhus, dwell guarding the doors of the sense faculties. Having seen a form with the eye, do not grasp its signs and features. Since, if you leave the eye faculty unguarded, evil unwholesome states of covetousness and displeasure might invade you, practise the way of its restraint, guard the eye faculty, undertake the restraint of the eye faculty. Having heard a sound with the ear… Having smelt an odour with the nose … Having savoured a taste with the tongue … Having felt a tactile object with the body … Having cognized a mental phenomenon with the mind, do not grasp its signs and features. Since, if you leave the mind faculty unguarded, evil unwholesome states of covetousness and displeasure might invade you, practise the way of its restraint, guard the mind faculty, undertake the restraint of the mind faculty.’This too, great king, is a cause and reason why these young bhikkhus …lead the complete and pure holy life all their lives and maintain it continuously.”
245 (8) The Kiṃsuka Tree
One bhikkhu approached another and asked him: “In what way, friend, is a bhikkhu’s vision well purified?”202 “When, friend, a bhikkhu understands as they really are the origin and the passing away of the six bases for contact, [192] in this way his vision is well purified.”203 Then the first bhikkhu, dissatisfied with the other’s answer, approached another bhikkhu and asked him: “In what way, friend, is a bhikkhu’s vision well purified?”“When, friend, a bhikkhu understands as they really are the origin and the passing away of the five aggregates subject to clinging, in this way his vision is well purified.”Again, the first bhikkhu, dissatisfied with the other’s answer, approached still another bhikkhu and asked him: “In what way, friend, is a bhikkhu’s vision well purified?”“When, friend, a bhikkhu understands as they really are the origin and the passing away of the four great elements, in this way his vision is well purified.”Again, the first bhikkhu, dissatisfied with the other’s answer, approached still another bhikkhu and asked him: “In what way, friend, is a bhikkhu’s vision well purified?”“When, friend, a bhikkhu understands as it really is: ‘Whatever is subject to origination is all subject to cessation,’in this way his vision is well purified.”
XX. Blissful Is Detachment
Blissful is detachment for one who is content,
For one who has learned Dhamma and who sees.
Blissful is freedom from anger in the world,
Restraint toward living creatures.
Blissful is passionlessness in the world,
The overcoming of sensual desires;
But abolishing the conceit “I am”
That is truly the supreme bliss.
All subjection to another is painful;
Full mastery is bliss.
Partners share in affliction,
Bonds are difficult to overcome.
““Above, across, and below, Delight is no more found in them. They boldly sound their lion’s roar: ‘The enlightened are supreme in the world.’””
20 (10) 237 “Bhikkhus, there are these two things that lead to the decline and disappearance of the good Dhamma. What two? [59] Badly set down words and phrases and badly interpreted meaning. 238 When the words and phrases are badly set down, the meaning is badly interpreted. These are the two things that lead to the decline and disappearance of the good Dhamma. “Bhikkhus, there are these two things that lead to the continuation, non-decline, and non-disappearance of the good Dhamma. What two? Well-set down words and phrases and well-interpreted meaning. 239 When the words and phrases are well set down, the meaning is well interpreted. These are the two things that lead to the continuation, non-decline, and non-disappearance of the good Dhamma.”
“And what is the assembly of the foremost? Here, in this kind of assembly the elder bhikkhus are not luxurious and lax but discard backsliding and take the lead in solitude; they arouse energy for the attainment of the as-yet-unattained, for the achievement of the as-yet-unachieved, for the realization of the as-yet-unrealized. [Those in] the next generation follow their example. They too do not become luxurious and lax but discard backsliding and take the lead in solitude; they too arouse energy for the attainment of the as-yet-unattained, for the achievement of the as-yet-unachieved, for the realization of the as-yet-unrealized. This is called the assembly of the foremost.
“So too, bhikkhus, there are these three [places] that a bhikkhu should remember all his life. What three? (1) The first is the place where he shaved off his hair and beard, put on ochre robes, and went forth from the household life into homelessness. (2) The second is the place where he understood as it really is: ‘This is suffering,’and ‘This is the origin of suffering,’and ‘This is the cessation of suffering,’and ‘This is the way leading to the cessation of suffering.’(3) And the third is the place where, with the destruction of the taints, he realized for himself with direct knowledge, in this very life, the taintless liberation of mind, liberation by wisdom, and having entered upon it, dwelled in it. 343 These are the three [places] that a bhikkhu should remember all his life.”
15 (5) Pacetana349
On one occasion the Blessed One was dwelling at Bārāṇasī in the deer park at Isipatana. There the Blessed One addressed the bhikkhus: “Bhikkhus!”[111] “Venerable sir!”those bhikkhus replied. The Blessed One said this: “Bhikkhus, in the past there was a king named Pacetana.
Then King Pacetana addressed a chariotmaker: ‘Friend chariotmaker, six months from now there will be a battle. Can you make me a new pair of wheels?’–‘I can, lord,’the chariotmaker replied. After six months less six days the chariotmaker had finished one wheel. King Pacetana then addressed the chariotmaker: ‘Six days from now there will be a battle. Is the new pair of wheels finished?’[The chariotmaker replied:] ‘In the past six months less six days, lord, I have finished one wheel.’–‘But, friend chariotmaker, can you finish a second wheel for me in the next six days?’–‘I can, lord,’the chariotmaker replied.
Then, over the next six days, the chariotmaker finished the second wheel. He brought the new pair of wheels to King Pacetana and said: ‘This is the new pair of wheels that I have made for you, lord.’–‘What is the difference, friend chariotmaker, between the wheel that took six months less six days to complete and the one that took six days to complete? I do not see any difference between them.’–‘There is a difference, lord. Observe the difference.’“Then the chariotmaker rolled the wheel that took six days to finish. It rolled as far as the impetus carried it, 350 and then it wobbled and fell to the ground. But the wheel that took six months [112] less six days to finish rolled as far as the impetus carried it and then stood still as if fixed on an axle. 351
“[ The king asked:] ‘Why is it, friend chariotmaker, that the wheel that took six days to finish rolled as far as the impetus carried it, and then wobbled and fell to the ground, while the wheel that took six months less six days to finish rolled as far as the impetus carried it and then stood still as if fixed on an axle?’“[ The chariotmaker replied:] ‘The wheel that took six days to finish, lord, has a rim that is crooked, faulty, and defective; spokes that are crooked, faulty, and defective; and a nave that is crooked, faulty, and defective. For this reason, it rolled as far as the impetus carried it and then it wobbled and fell to the ground. But the wheel that took six months less six days to finish has a rim without crookedness, faults, and defects; it has spokes without crookedness, faults, and defects; and it has a nave that is without crookedness, faults, and defects. For this reason, it rolled as far as the impetus carried it and then stood still as if fixed on an axle.’“It may be, bhikkhus, that you think: ‘On that occasion the chariotmaker was someone else.’But you should not think in such a way. On that occasion, I myself was the chariotmaker. Then I was skilled in crookedness, faults, and defects in wood. But now I am the Arahant, the Perfectly Enlightened One, (1) skilled in crookedness, faults, and defects of the body; (2) skilled in crookedness, faults, and defects of speech; and (3) skilled in crookedness, faults, and defects of mind.
“Any bhikkhu or bhikkhunī who has not abandoned crookedness, faults, and defects of the body, speech, and mind has fallen down from this Dhamma and discipline, just as the wheel that was finished in six days fell to the ground.
“Any bhikkhu or bhikkhunī who has abandoned crookedness, faults, and defects of the body, speech, and mind is established in this Dhamma and discipline, just as the wheel that was finished in six months less six days remained standing.
“Therefore, bhikkhus, you should train yourselves thus: ‘We will abandon crookedness, faults, and defects of the body; we will abandon crookedness, faults, and defects of speech; we will abandon crookedness, faults, and defects of the mind.’ It is in this way that you should train yourselves.”