Visuddhimagga (the pah of purification)
by Ñāṇamoli Bhikkhu | 1956 | 388,207 words | ISBN-10: 9552400236 | ISBN-13: 9789552400236
This page describes (10) Recollection of Peace of the section Other Recollections as Meditation Subjects of Part 2 Concentration (Samādhi) of the English translation of the Visuddhimagga (‘the path of purification’) which represents a detailled Buddhist meditation manual, covering all the essential teachings of Buddha as taught in the Pali Tipitaka. It was compiled Buddhaghosa around the 5th Century.
(10) Recollection of Peace
245. One who wants to develop the recollection of peace mentioned next to mindfulness of breathing (III.105) should go into solitary retreat and recollect the special qualities of Nibbāna, in other words, the stilling of all suffering, as follows:
“Bhikkhus, in so far as there are dhammas, whether formed or unformed, fading away is pronounced the best of them, that is to say, the disillusionment of vanity, the elimination of thirst, the abolition of reliance, the termination of the round, the destruction of craving, fading away, cessation, Nibbāna” (A II 34).
246. Herein in so far as means as many as. Dhammas [means] individual essences.[1] Whether formed or unformed: whether made by conditions going together, coming together, or not so made.[2] Fading away is pronounced the best of them: of these formed and unformed dhammas, fading away is pronounced the best, is called the foremost, the highest.
247. Herein fading away is not mere absence of greed, but rather it is that unformed dhamma which, while given the names “disillusionment of vanity,” etc., in the clause, “that is to say, the disillusionment of vanity, … Nibbāna,” is treated basically as fading away.[3] It is called disillusionment of vanity because on coming to it all kinds of vanity (intoxication), such as the vanity of conceit, and vanity of manhood, are disillusioned, undone, done away with.[4] And it is called elimination of thirst because on coming to it all thirst for sense desires is eliminated and quenched. But it is called abolition of reliance because on coming to its reliance on the five cords of sense desire is abolished. It is called termination of the round because on coming to it the round of the three planes [of existence] is terminated. It is called destruction of craving because on coming to it craving is entirely destroyed, fades away and ceases. It is called Nibbāna (extinction) because it has gone away from (nikkhanta), has escaped from (nissaṭa), is dissociated from craving, which has acquired in common usage the name “fastening” (vāna) because, by ensuring successive becoming, craving serves as a joining together, a binding together, a lacing together, of the four kinds of generation, five destinies, seven stations of consciousness and nine abodes of beings.[5] [294]
248. This is how peace, in other words, Nibbāna, should be recollected according to its special qualities beginning with disillusionment of vanity. But it should also be recollected according to the other special qualities of peace stated by the Blessed One in the suttas beginning with: “Bhikkhus, I shall teach you the unformed … the truth … the other shore … the hard-to-see … the undecaying … the lasting … the undiversified … the deathless … the auspicious … the safe … the marvellous … the intact … the unafflicted … the purity … the island … the shelter ….” (S IV 360–72).[6]
249. As he recollects peace in its special qualities of disillusionment of vanity, etc., in this way, then: “On that occasion his mind is not obsessed by greed or obsessed by hate or obsessed by delusion; his mind has rectitude on that occasion, being inspired by peace” (see VII.65, etc.). So when he has suppressed the hindrances in the way already described under the recollection of the Enlightened One, etc., the jhāna factors arise in a single moment. But owing to the profundity of the special qualities of peace, or owing to his being occupied in recollecting special qualities of various kinds, the jhāna is only access and does not reach absorption. And that jhāna itself is known as “recollection of peace” too because it arises by means of the special qualities of peace.
250. And as in the case of the six recollections, this also comes to success only in a noble disciple. Still, though this is so, it can nevertheless also be brought to mind by an ordinary person who values peace. For even by hearsay the mind has confidence in peace.
251. A bhikkhu who is devoted to this recollection of peace sleeps in bliss and wakes in bliss, his faculties are peaceful, his mind is peaceful, he has conscience and shame, he is confident, he is resolved [to attain] the superior [state], he is respected and honoured by his fellows in the life of purity. And even if he penetrates no higher, he is at least headed for a happy destiny.
So that is why a man of wit
Untiringly devotes his days
To mind the noble peace, which can
Reward him in so many ways.
This is the section dealing with the recollection of peace in the detailed explanation.
The eighth chapter called “The Description of Recollections as Meditation Subjects” in the Treatise on the Development of Concentration in the Path of Purification composed for the purpose of gladdening good people.
Footnotes and references:
[1]:
“In such passages as ‘Dhammas that are concepts’ (Dhs p. 1, §1308) even a non-entity (abhāva) is thus called a ‘dhamma’ since it is borne (dhārīyati) and affirmed (avadhārīyati) by knowledge. That kind of dhamma is excluded by his saying, ‘Dhammas [means] individual essences.’ The act of becoming (bhavana), which constitutes existingness (vijjamānatā) in the ultimate sense, is essence (bhāva); it is with essence (saha bhāvena), thus it is an individual essence (sabhāva); the meaning is that it is possible (labbhamānarūpa) in the true sense, in the ultimate sense. For these are called ‘dhammas (bearers)’ because they bear (dhāraṇa) their own individual essences (sabhāva), and they are called ‘individual essences’ in the sense already explained” (Vism-mhṭ 282; cf. Ch. VII, n. 1).
In the Piṭakas the word sabhāva seems to appear only once (Paṭis II 178). It next appears in the Netti (p.79), the Milindapañhā (pp. 90, 164, 212, 360). It is extensively used for exegetical purposes in the Visuddhimagga and main commentaries and likewise in the subcommentaries. As has just been shown, it is narrower than dhamma (see also Ch. XXIII. n. 18). It often roughly corresponds to dhātu (element—see e.g. Dhs-a 263) and to lakkhaṇa (characteristic—see below), but less nearly to the vaguer and (in Pali) untechnical pakati (nature), or to rasa (function—see I.21). The Atthasālinī observes: “It is the individual essence, or the generality, of such and such dhammas that is called their characteristic” (Dhs-a 63); on which the Mūla Ṭīkā comments: “The individual essence consisting in, say, hardness as that of earth, or touching as that of contact, is not common to all dhammas. The generality is the individual essence common to all consisting in impermanence, etc.; also in this context (i.e. Dhs §1) the characteristic of being profitable may be regarded as general because it is the individual essence common to all that is profitable; or alternatively it is their individual essence because it is not common to the unprofitable and indeterminate [kinds of consciousness]” (Dhsa 63). The individual essence of any formed dhamma is manifested in the three instants of its existence (atthitā, vijjamānatā), namely, arising, presence (= aging) and dissolution. It comes from nowhere and goes nowhere (XV.15) and is borne by the mind. Dhammas without individual essence (asabhāvadhamma) include the attainment of cessation (see Ch. XXIII, n. 18) and some concepts. Space and time belong to the last-mentioned. Of space (ākāsa) the Majjhima Nikāya Ṭīkā says: “Space, which is quite devoid of individual essence, is called empty” (commenting on MN 106), while of time (kāla) the Mūla Ṭīkā says: “Though time is determined by the kind of consciousness [e.g. as specified in the first paragraph of the Dhammasaṅgaṇī] and is non-existent (avijjamāna) as to individual essence, yet as the non-entity (abhāva) before and after the moment in which those [conascent and co-present] dhammas occur, it is called the ‘container (adhikaraṇa)’; it is perceived (symbolized) only as the state of a receptacle (ādhāra-bhāva) (Dhs-a 62). Of Nibbāna (for which see XVI.46ff.), which has its own individual essence, the Mūla Ṭīkā says “Nibbāna is not like other dhammas; because of its extreme profundity it cannot be made an object of consciousness (ālambituṃ) by one who has not realized it. That is why it has to be realized by change-of-lineage. It has profundity surpassing any individual essence belonging to the three periods of time” (Vibh-a 38).
Sabhāva has not the extreme vagueness of its parent bhāva, which can mean anything between “essence” (see e.g. Dhs-a 61) and “-ness” (e.g. natthibhāva = non-existingness—X.35). This may be remembered when sabhāva is defined as above thus: “It is with essence (sahabhāvena), thus it is individual essence (sabhāva)” (Vism-mhṭ 282), and when it is defined again thus: “A dhamma’s own essence or its existing essence (sako vā bhāvo samāno vā bhāvo) is its individual essence (sabhāva)” (Vism-mhṭ 433). Sabhāva can also be the basis of a wrong view, if regarded as the sole efficient cause or condition of any formed thing (Ch. XVI, n.23). The Sanskrit equivalent, svabhāva, had a great vogue and checkered history in philosophical discussions on the Indian mainland.
This (unlike the word, dhamma, which has many “referents”) is an instance in which it is of first importance to stick to one rendering. The word is a purely exegetical one; consequently vagueness is undesirable. “Individual essence” has been chosen principally on etymological grounds, and the word “essence” (an admittedly slippery customer) must be understood from the contexts in which it is used and not prejudged. Strictly it refers here to the triple moment of arising etc., of formed dhammas that can have such “existence” in their own right and be experienced as such; and it refers to the realizability of Nibbāna. We are here in the somewhat magical territory of ontology, a subject that is at present undergoing one of its periodical upheavals in Europe, this time in the hands of the existentialists. Consequently it is important to approach the subject with an open mind.
[2]:
“‘Made’ is generated. ‘Not so made’ is not made by any conditions at all.” (Vism-mhṭ 281)
[3]:
“That dhamma possessing individual essence and having the characteristic of being not formed is to be treated basically as ‘fading away,’ since it is there that the dhamma of defilement fades away” (Vism-mhṭ 282).
[4]:
“When they are being abandoned by the noble path, which occurs by making Nibbāna its object, it is said that they are abandoned by reaching that [Nibbāna] which is why he said, ‘Because on coming to it,’ and so on. Herein, ‘vanity of conceit (mānamada)’ is conceit (māna) that occurs as conceiving (maññanā) ‘I am superior’ (Vibh 353). ‘Vanity of manhood’ is vanity about being of the male sex. The words ‘such as’ refer to vanity of birth, and so on (Vibh 345)” (Vism-mhṭ 282).
[5]:
Modern etymology derives the word Nibbāna (Skr. nirvāṇa) from the negative prefix nir plus the root vā (to blow). The original literal meaning was probably “extinction” of a fire by ceasing to blow on it with bellows (a smith’s fire for example). It seems to have been extended to extinction of fire by any means, for example, the going out of a lamp’s flame (nibbāyati—M III 245). By analogy it was extended to the extinction of the five-aggregate process on the Arahant’s death (see It 38). Nibbāna is not the “extinction of a self or of a living lasting being,” such a mistaken opinion being the annihilation view (see e.g. M I 140, S III 109).
[6]:
Some texts add leṇa (another word for shelter). Still others are given in the Saṃyutta text.