No More Learning

iv. The pure mind is neither promoter nor mover.
***
Is the "mover" of the same [nature--good, bad, neutral--] as the agent?
There is no rule on this subject:
12a-b. From a good agent, etc. , a mover of three types.
A good, bad, or neutral mover can come from a good agent. The same for a bad or neutral agent.
58 12c With regard to the Muni, mover of the same type.
With regard to the Buddha the Blessed One, the mover is of the same species as the agent: from a good mover, a good mover; from a neutral agent, a neutral mover.
12c Or good
Or rather, it happens that a good mover comes out of a neutral
agent, whereas a neutral mover never comes out of a good agent: the
59 teaching of the Buddhas is not subject to diminutioa
(Vibfodsd, TD 27, p. 6l0a6)
57
? 60
According to other Schools, the mind of the Buddhas is never
neutral: they are always in absorption; their mental series is exclusively a series of good thoughts. This is why the Sutra says, "The Naga is absorbed when he walks, when he stands still, when he dreams, and when he is seated"
The Vaibhasikas say: The Sutra expresses itself in this manner because the mind of the Blessed One does not disperse itself towards objects without his wishing it. [The Blessed One is always absorbed in the sense that memory is always present in him: walking, he knows that he walks. ]But this is not to say that the Blessed One is exempt from neutral dharmas: dharmas of retribution (vipdkaja), dharmas related to attitudes (irydpatha), a mind capable of creating fictive beings (nir- mdnacitta) (ii. 66).
We have seen that the mind susceptible of being abandoned through Meditation is at one and the same time agent and mover, and can be good, bad, or neutral
61 12d That which arises from retribution is neither of the two.
The mind that has arisen from retribution (vipdkaja, i. 36, ii. 60, iv. 85), is produced without effort, spontaneously, [and so is neither agent nor mover. ]
Is the vijnapti good, bad, or neutral, 1. ) according to the character- istics of the agent, or 2. ) according to the characteristic of its mover?
To what does this question lead?
i. First hypothesis. The two wrong views,--personalism, and past- and-future-of-the-personality--are the agent (iv. lla-b); they are of the defiled-neutral class. [If the vijnapti to which they give rise follows their nature, one will then have, in Kamadhatu, a defiled-neutral action: and you regard this consequence as inadmissible (iv. 8b). ]If you maintain your opinion with regard to this point, you must then admit, [contrary to your thesis, (iv. Ua-b)] that all thoughts susceptible of being abandoned through Seeing are not agents: whereas satkayadrsti and the antdgrdhadrsti are not agents, the other wrong views are agents.
Second hypothesis. The vijnapti through which a person under- takes theJPratimoksa discipline will not be good, if this person, while he is receiving the ordination, has a bad or neutral mind
ii. The Vaibhasikas answer. The vijnapti is of the same nature as its
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agent when this latter is of a mind susceptible of being abandoned through Meditation. It is not of the same nature as its agent when this latter is of a mind susceptible of being abandoned through Seeing, for example, the thought "the soul exists," for, in this case, another agent arises between the promoter and the action (vijnapti), a thought susceptible of being abandoned through Meditation, turned inward, accompanied by victim and by vitarka, through which, for example, one preaches the existence of a soul. The first agent is neutral; the second is bad; the action is bad From the agent susceptible of being abandoned through Seeing, there arises an agent susceptible of being abandoned through Meditation and which is good, bad, or neutral; from this second agent, there arises an action (vijriapti) of the same nature.
iii. But if the action (vijnapti) is not good, bad, or neutral by reason of the mover, the explanation that you have given (iv. lOa-b) of the Sutra does not hold You have said in effect that the Sutra considers a "wrong view" (drsti) as agent and that, as a consequence, by affirming that a wrong view is the generator of vijnapti, the Sutra contradias neither the principle that the mind susceptible of being abandoned through Seeing does not engender vijnapti, nor its corollary that, in Kamadhatu, there is no vijnapti of the defiled-neutral class. One must say that the Sutra considers a wrong view as an agent to which there follows, separating it from the action (vijnapti), another agent which is susceptible of being abandoned through Meditation.
This is enough on this point which has been defined above ( i l l , iv. 3d).
13a-b. Avijnapti is threefold, discipline {samvara), un-discipline (asamvara), and different from either discipline or un-discipline.
It is of three types, 1. ) samvara, discipline, so called because it constrains thefluxof immorality, because it destroys or arrests the flux of immorality; 2. ) asamvara, the opposite of discipline, un-discipline (iv. 24c-d), and 3. ) naivasamvaranasamvara, [an avijnapti which has neither the characteristic of samvara nor asamvara. ]
13c-d Pratimoksa discipline, pure discipline, discipline arising from dhytina.
There are three types of discipline: 1. ) the discipline called
? Pratimoksa: this is the morality of the sphere of Kamadhatu, the morality of beings of this world; 2. ) the discipline produced through dhyana is morality of the sphere of Rupadhatu; and 3. ) pure discipline, which arises from the Path, pure morality.
[Chinese: What is the difference in the characteristics of the first two disciplines? ]
14a. The Pratimoksa is of eight types.
It includes the discipline of the Bhiksu, the Bhiksuni, the Sik-
62
samana, the Sramanera (novice), the Sramanerika, the Upasaka
(pious layman, iv. 30), the Upasika, and the Upavasastha ("faster," iv. 28). These eight disciplines are the Pratimoksa disciplines: thus, from the point of view of the names given to them, the discipline of the Pratimoksa is of eight types.
14b. In substance however, the Pratimoksa is of four types.
Four types that present distinct characteristics: the discipline of the Bhiksu, the Sramanera, the Upasaka and the Upavasastha.
In fact, the discipline of the Bhiksuni does not differ, does not exist separately from the discipline of the Bhiksu; the discipline of the Siksamana and the Sramanerika do not differ from the discipline of the Sramanera; and the discipline of the Upasika does not differ from that of the Upasaka.
14c. The name changes with the gender.
Unga is vyanjana, that which distinguishes men and women. It is by reason of gender that the names, Bhiksu, Bhiksuni, etc. , differ.
When their gender is modified, the Bhiksu becomes a Bhiksuni; the Bhiksuni, a Bhiksu; the Sramanera, a Sramanerika; the Sramanerika, like the Siksamana, becomes a Sramanera; the Upasaka, an Upasika; and the Upasika, an Upasaka. Now one cannot admit that a person, by changing his gender, abandons the former discipline and acquires a new
63
one; the change of gender cannot have this influence. Thus the four
female disciplines are indentical with the three male disciplines.
***
Karma 581
? When the disciplines are undertaken successively,--Le. , the dis- cipline of the Upasaka with its five precepts, the discipline of the Sramanera with its ten precepts, and the discipline of the Bhiksu with its two hundred and fifty precepts,--do these disciplines differ solely through the successive additions of new precepts (virati, renouncings), as the numbers five, ten, twenty differ, as one coin and two coins differ? Or rather do these disciplines, produced all of a piece, exist separately one from the other?
I4d [The disciplines exist] separately.
They are not mixed, for in the parts that are common to them all--Upasakas, Sramaneras and Bhiksus all renounce (virati) killing, stealing, illicit sexuality, lying, intoxicating liquors--the three dis- ciplines have some distinct characteristics.
Their differencs lie in the difference of the occasions (nidana) of
transgression. In fact, the person who undertakes the observation of a
greater number of rules, avoids by this action itself a greater number of
occasions of intoxication-pride (mada, ii. 33c-d) and of non-diligence
(pramadasthana, ii. 26a); he avoids, by this action, a greater number of
64
occasions of transgression, killing, etc
of renouncings are not identical with one another. If it were otherwise, that is, if the disciplines of Upasaka and Sramanera were integral to the discipline of a Bhiksu, then the Bhiksu who renounces the discipline of a Bhiksu would renounce at the same time all three disciplines: a thesis that is not admitted. Hence the disciplines exist separately.
I4d. But they do not contradict one another.
They can coexist: by undertaking the following disciplines, one does
65
not abandon the preceeding ones. Thus the fact that a Bhiksu who
renounces his quality of Bhiksu remains in possession of the discipline of Upasaka and Sramanera is explained. **
***
How does one become an Upasaka, an Upavasastha, a Sramanera, or a Bhiksu?
Consequently the three series
? 15. By undertaking the renouncing of the five things to avoid, of
the eight, the ten, of all the things to avoid, one obtains the
67 quality of Upasaka, Upavasastha, Sramanera, and Bhiksu.
1. By undertaking the renouncing of five items: 1. murder, 2. stealing, 3. illicit sexuality, 4. lying, and 5. intoxicating liquors, one places himself in the discipline of an Upasaka.
2. By undertaking the renouncing of eight items: 1. killing, 2.
stealing, 3. unchastity,4. lying, 5. intoxicating liquors, 6. scents,garlands,
68
and unguents; dances, songs, music; 7. high beds, broad beds, and 8.
meals at forbidden times, one places himself in the discipline of an Upavasastha.
3. By undertaking the renouncing of these same items and, further, gold and silver, which make ten, one places himself in the discipline of a Sramanera. These make ten items, for one counts "scents, garlands, and unguents"separately from "dances, songs, and music"
4. By undertaking the renouncing of all the actions of the body and the voice which should be avoided, one is a Bhiksu.
***
The Pratimoksa discipline is
I6a-b. Morality, good conduct, action and discipline.
69
1. It is morality (Ma), because it redresses that which is "unjust,"
for transgressors condua themselves in an unjust manner with regard to beings. Etymologically, because it cools (ft), as it says in the stanza, "Happy is the undertaking of morality, because morality does not burn. "
2. Good condua, because it is praised by the wise.
3. Aaion (karma), because it is aaion (ktiya) by nature. Objection. Does not the Sutra say that avijnapti is "not doing"
(akarana) (see above p. 560, 562)? How can avijnapti be aaion? Without doubt, the avijnapti makes the disciple, endowed with shame, to abstain from transgression; it is thus "not doing. " But it is
aaion, according to the etymology kriyata iti kriya: it is doing (kriyate) 70
either by a bodily-vocal aaion (vijnapti), or by the mind (citta). According to others, avijnapti is aaion because it is the cause and the
Karma 583
? 71 effect of an action.
4. Discipline (samvara), because it disciplines or constrains the body and the voice.
***
The expression "Pratimoksa discipline" designates all Pratimoksa discipline since its origin.
I6c-d The Pratimoksa is the first vijnapti and the first avijnapti; these are courses of action (karmapatha).
1. The expression "Pratimoksa" designates the first vijnapti and the first avijnapti of the undertaking of the discipline.
The Pratimoksa is called prdtimokfa, for through it there takes 72
placepratimoksana, that is, the abandoning of transgression: such is the efficacy of the first moment (vijnapti and avijnapti) of the undertaking of discipline.
2. This vijnapti and avijnapti are also "Pratimoksa discipline" because they discipline the body and the voice.
3. They are courses of action, that is "courses of action properly so called" (maula, iv. 66).
There is no longer any Pratimoksa in the moment which follows
the first moment and in the moments which follow, for the
transgression is not rejected (pratimokfyate) by the second moment,
having been rejected (pratimoksita) by the first; there is prati- 75
moksasamvara, that is, discipline "of the Pratimoksa type" or discipline "arisen from Pratimoksa;" there are no longer courses of action properly so-called, but solely "consecutive action" (iv. 68).
***
Who possesses each of the three disciplines? 17a. Eight persons possess the Pratimoksa.
Eight persons, the Bhiksu, Bhiksuni. . . the Upavasatha, possess the Pratimoksa discipline.
Does this mean that non-Buddhists cannot possess a morality that
74 they have undertaken?
? They can possess a morality, but they cannot possess the Prati- moksa discipline. In fact, the morality that they undertake ("I shall abstain from killing," etc), rests on an idea of existence; even when they have in view, not a heavenly existence, but that which they call "deliverance" (moksa), they conceive of deliverance as a certain type of existence. Hence transgression is not absolutely "rejected" by them, nor can they be "released" through the discipline they have undertaken.
#**
17b. He who possesses dhyana possesses the discipline which arises from dhyana.
"Which arises from dhyana" (dhydnaja), that is, which arises from dhyana (ablative) or by means of dhyana (instrumental).
Dhyana, means not only the Four Principal (maula) Dhyanas, but also the absorptions which are close to them (samantaka, viii. 22a). In the same way, when one says, "There is a field of rice or a field of wheat in this village," one means the village and its environs.
***
75 17c. The Aryans possess pure discipline.
The Aryans,-^the Saiksas and Asaiksas,--possess pure discipline (iv. 26b-c).
**#
We have seen, in the definition of sahabhilhetu (ii. 51), that two disciplines "accompany the mind. " What are these two disciplines?
17d The last two disciplines are concomitants of the mind
The discipline that arises from dhyana and the pure discpline are concomitants of the mind; not of the Pratimoksa discipline, for this latter continues to exist in a person whose mind is bad or neutral, or who is unconscious (anyacittacittaka, i. 11).
18a-b. Arising in the anantaryamargas, in anagamya, they are
76 called "abandoning. "
Karma 585
? In the nine dnantafyamdrgas of andgamya these two disciplines, the discipline of dhydna and pure discipline, are "abandoning disciplines" (prahdnasathvara^dbaLndomng and discipline), for through them one abandons immorality and the defilements which produce them (iv. l22a).
There are thus disciplines arisen from dhydna which are not abandoning-discipline. Four cases:
i. Discipline arising from dhydna, impure, with the exception of what arises from the dnantafyamdrgas of andgamya: discipline arisen from dhydna which is not abandoning;
ii. Pure discipline obtained in the dnantafyamdrgas of andgamya: abandoning, but not discipline arisen from dhydna;
iii. Impure discipline in the dnantafyamdrgas of andgamya: dis- cipline arisen from dhydna which is abandoning;
iv. Pure discipline arisen outside of the dnantafyamdrgas of andgamya: discipline not arisen from dhydna which is not abandoning.
According to the same principles, one would establish four cases relative to pure discipline which is not abandoning, to abandoning which is not pure discipline, etc (Vibhdsd, TD 27, p. 231al3)
***
The Blessed One said, "Good is discipline of the body, discipline of
77
the voice, discipline of the mind, discipline in all things;" and again,
78 "He lives disciplined through the discipline of the organ of sight. "
What is the nature of these two disciplines, discipline of the mind, and discipline of the organs?
Neither are, by their nature avijnapti of ? Ua. But on the contrary, 18c-d Discipline of the mind and discipline of the organs are,
each of them, two things: attentive consciousness and
79 mindfulness.
In order that the reader should not come to believe that the first
discipline is consciousness (samprajddna) and the second mindfulness 80
(smrti), the author says that each of them is two things. ***
? Let us examine who possesses vijnapti and avijnapti, and to what 81
period these belong in each case (iv. 19-22,23-24b).
19a-c He who is in Pratimoksa always possesses avijnapti of the present moment, as long as the does not rejea the avijnapti.
As we have said previously the person who dwells in the Pratimoksa discipline (iv. l4a), always possesses present avijnapti as long as he does not reject the avijnapti which constitutes this discipline (iv. 38).
19c-d. After the first moment, he also possesses avijnapti After the first moment, which is designated by the expression
Pratimoksa (iv. l6c-d), he also possesses earlier, past avijnapti: this of 82
course, as long as he does not rejea the discipline. As he who dwells in the Pratimoksa discipline,
20a. So too is he who dwells in undiscipline.
He who dwells in undiscipline (asamvarastha, iv. 24c-d), always possesses avijnapti of the present moment as long as he does not rejea it; [he also possesses avijnapti of the past, and from the second moment on, of undiscipline. ]
20b-c. He who possesses discipline arisen from dhyana always possesses past and future avijnapti.
He who possesses the discipline arisen from dhyana always possesses avijnapti of the past, and avijnapti of the future as long as he does not lose it, [for the avijnapti in question--namely the discipline arisen from dhyana--accompanies the mind (iv. l7d). ]
From the first moment when he acquires the discipline of dhyana, he takes possession of the discipline of former dhydnas, either of this existence, or of a previous existence, that he had lost.
20c-d The Aryan, at the first moment, does not posses past
avijnapti.
The Aryan possesses pure avijnapti, which constitutes his pure discipline, in the manner in which he who possesses the discipline arisen from dhyana possesses the avijnapti arisen from dhyana: he
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possesses his past and future avijnapti; but with the difference that, when in the first moment of the Way he takes possession of pure avijnapti for the first time, he cannot, evidently, possess pure avijnapti of the past.
21a-b. The person who is in a state of absorption, the person
who is placed in the Way, possesses avijnapti of the present 83
moment.
The person who is absorbed (samdbita), the person who is cultivating the Way (dryamdrgam samdpannah), possesses, at present, the avijnapti which is proper to him, arisen from dhyana, and pure. But when he leaves the absorption, he does not [possess this present avijnapti, for this avijnapti only accompanies an absorbed mind]
##*
As for the intermediary (madhyastha) [the person presently in neither-discipline-nor-undiscipline, who does not posses discipline like the Bhiksu, nor undiscipline like the transgressor:]
21b-c The intermediary, at the first moment, possesses, medially, avijnapti, when the avijnapti is produced.
Medially (madhya) means the present, situated between the past and the future.
Action {avijnapti) does not necessarily produce avijnaptiThe intermediary does not necessarily possess avijnapti: if there is avijnapti--either avijnapti created by an act of immorality (killing, etc), or avijnapti created by an act of morality (abstention from killing), or avijnapti is created by some other good or bad acts, the worship of a Stupa, hitting and wounding--he possesses this avijnapti, of the present, at the moment when it arises.
2 Id. Afterwards, [he possesses avijnapti] of the present and the past.
[until the moment he rejects it. ]
***
? Gin a disciplined person possess bad avijnapti? Gin an un- disciplined person possess good avijnapu? And how long does the avijnapu last in these two cases?
22. As long as he is endowed with faith or with very active defilements, the undisciplined person possesses good avijnapti, and the disciplined person possesses hd& avijnapti.
As long as there continues, in an undisciplined person, the strength of faith by which, accomplishing actions such as the worship of a Stupa, he has created goodavijnapti; as long as there continues, in a disciplined person, the power of the defilements by which, accomplishing actions such as killing, hitting, binding, he has created bad avijnapti, good or bad avijnapti continues.
At the moment of the action in question, the agent possesses avijnapti of the present; then he possesses avijnapti of the present and of the past.
23a-b. Those who have created one vijnapti possess it always, in the present.
All those who accomplish a bodily or vocal action (vijnapti) whether they are disciplined, undisciplined, or intermediaries, so long as they are accomplishing this action, possess it in the present.
23c-d From the second moment onward, they possess vijnapti of the past, until the moment when they give it up.
M From the second moment onward, that is, after the first moment.
23d. One cannot possess future vijnapti
No one possesses future vijnapti, because such vijnapti does not
now accompany the mind.
24a-b. One does not possess past vijnapti of the nivrta and
anivrta classes.
[That is to say the defiled-neutral and undefiled-neutral actions (see ii. 66 and foil). ]
One does not possess these actions, once they are past, because the possession (prdpti) of a weak dharma, being weak itself, is not
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prolonged.
Why is this dharma, a neutral action, weak?
By reason of the weakness of the mind which gives rise to it.
But then the possession (prapti) of this mind too will not be
prolonged.
No: the case is not the same. The vijnapti, in effect, is stupid, for it
does not know an objea; furthermore it is dependent, for it depends upon the mind. Such is not the case with the mind itself. Thus the vijHapti produced by a neutral mind is weaker than this mind itself; the possession (prapti) of the vijnapti is not prolongued, whereas the possession of the mind is prolongued.
***
We have spoken of an undisciplined person, one who is in undiscipline. What is undiscipline (asamvara)?
24c-d Undiscipline, bad conduct, immorality, action, course of actioa
1. It is undiscipline, because there is no constraining of the body and voice.
2. It is bad conduct, because it is blamed by wise men, and because it produces painful results.
3. It is immorality, because it opposes morality (iv. 122).
4. It is an action, as it is created by the body and the voice.
5. It is a course of action, as it is included in the principal action
85 (maula-samgrh&atvdt, iv. 68).
***
He who possesses vijnapti can also possess avijnapti. Four cases present themselves.
25a-b. The intermediary, acting with a weak volition, possesses a single vijnapti.
He who is in neither-discipline-nor-nondiscipline and who, with a weak volition, does good or bad action (vijnapti), possesses solely this
? act {vijnapti), and does not possess any avijnapti. * All the more reason that there is no possession of avijnapti by an agent when his action is neutral (avydkrta).
Nevertheless, even accomplished with a weak volition, 1. ) material meritorious works (aupadhikapunyakriydvastu, iv. 112) and 2. ) a course of action (iv. 68) always create avijnapti
25c-& The Aryan possesses a single avijnapti when he has not 87
produced, or has abandoned, the vijnapti.
When an Aryan has changed his existence or when he has not created vijnapti (for example when he is in an embryonic state or when he is reborn in Arupyadhatu), or when he has lost the vijnapti (the vijnapti created with a neutral volition), he possesses only avijnapti (pure avijnapti acquired in the previous existence), and not vijnapti.
The two other cases, the possession of vijnapti and avijnapti, and the non-possession of either, are set up according to the same principles.
How does one acquire the disciplines?
26a-b. The discipline that arises from dhyana is acquired by one
thought of the sphere of the dhyana.
It is through one thought of the sphere of the dhyana, that is, of the mauladhyana (the Four Dhyanas) and the samantakas (the four absorptions which proceed the Four Dhyanas), and with an impure mind, that is, with a mind not forming part of the Way, that the discipline of dhyana is acquired: this is a discipline concomitant with this type of mind.
26b-c Pure discipline, by the same mind, when it is Aryan.
"Aryan" means pure, forming part of the Way (iv. l7c).
We will explain below (viii. 22) that the Aryan mind exists in six spheres of dhyana, namely the Four Dhyanas, the dhyandntaras and the anagamya (the first sdmantaka).
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? 26c-d That which is called Pratimoksa, through paravijnapana, etc.
"Paravijnapana" is informative action to or from another: the candidate makes known something to another, and another makes
88
something known to him. "Another" is the Sangha, through the
acquisition of the disciplines of Bhiksu, Bhiksuni, or Siksamana; or a person (fiudgala), the acquisition of the five other prdtimoks disciplines, disciplines.
According to Vinaya scholars of the Vaibhasika School, there are six
types of ordinatioa In order to include them all within his definition,
the author says, " . . . from the information of another et cetera" 89
1. Ordination by oneself, in the case of the Buddha and the Pratyekabuddhas.
2. Through entry into the Path (niyamdvakranti, vi. 26a), in the case 90
of the Five, that is to say of Ajnatakaundinya and his companions.
3. Through the summons, "Gome, Oh Bhiksu! ," in the case of
91 Ajnata.
4. By recognizing the Blessed One as master, as in the case of
92 MahakaSyapa.
5. By satisfying the Blessed One through one's answers, as in the
93 case of Sodayin.
6. By accepting the special obligation of monks and nuns, as in the
94 case of Mahaprajapatl.
95 7. By a messenger, as in the case of Dharmadinna.
8. By an official action as the fifth, that is, ordination before a Sangha
96 of five Bhiksus, as in frontier lands.
97 9. By ten Bhiksus, as in MadhyadeSa.
10. By repeating three times the formula of Refuge, as in the case of
98 the sixty Bhadravargps, ordained in a group.
One sees that, according to these scholars, the Pratimoksa discipline is not necessarily acquired by means of a vijnapti, for example the ordination of the Buddha, etc
***
When one undertakes the Pratimoksa discipline, for how long a tinie does one undertakes it?
? 27a-b. One undertakes the discipline for a lifetime or for a day and a night. "
The first seven categories of the Pratimoksa discipline are undertaken for a lifetime; the fasting discipline (upavasastha) is undertaken for a day and a night. Such is the rule.
Why?
Because there are two limits of time, the period of a lifetime, and the period of a day and a night As for the forthnight and the other durations of time, they consist in additions of day and night periods.
*#*
What is the dharma that we term "time" (kola)?
This is not an eternal substance (paddrtha), as some believe. The word "time" is an expression by which the samskdras are designated as past, present, or future (17, v. 25).
When it is light in the four continents, it is daytime; when it is dark it is night (iii. 80c).
Discussion: We admit, say the Sautrantikas, that the Pratimoksa discipline is solely produced for the duration of a lifetime. In faa, even if one were to undertake to observe these rules in a future life, one would not now produce this discipline for this other life: 1. the person (dsraya) that one would become, would be different (see nikayasabhaga, ii. 4l); 2. this new person would not be able to apply himself to the rules
10 undertaken; and 3. he would not remember vmdertaking them. ? But if
a person assumes the duties of a faster for more than a day and a night,--for five days, or for ten days,--what obstacle would this be to his producing in himself many disciplines of the fast?
It needs be that there would be an obstacle since the Blessed One, in a Sutra, says that one undertakes the fast for a day and a night.
Why did the Blessed One express himself in this manner: did he think that the discipline of fasting could not be produced for a longer duration?
He thought that persons in whom the senses are difficult to subdue would be well capable of undertaking the fast for a day and a night. But, in truth, nothing is wrong with producing the discipline of the fast for more than one day.
Karma 593
? As the Blessed One does not speak of the fast as lasting any longer, the Vaibhasikas do not admit this manner of viewing the matter.
***
What is the duration of undiscipline (asamvara). Tic There is undiscipline for a day and a night.
Undiscipline never last longer than a day and a night, like the discipline of the fast, for it is produced by the acceptance of transgression for one's entire life.
How is this?
27d For, says the School, one does not undertake it thus.
No one undertakes undiscipline in the manner in which one undertakes the fast, by saying, "I wish to remain a day and a night in undiscipline. " Rather, he carries out, in effect, shameful actions.
Objection: No one undertakes undiscipline by saying, "I wish to remain for my life undisciplined" Thus one does not undertake undiscipline for an entire lifetime.
Answer: It is not in this manner, in fact, that one undertakes undiscipline. One does not undertake undiscipline by means of a ritual. One acquires undiscipline by acting with the intention of always acting badly; one does not acquire undiscipline by the intention of acting badly for a time. In the case of the fast, the intention is not "for always;" nevertheless one obtains the discipline through the force of the action which consists of saying, "I wish to remain a day and a night in the discipline of the fast," and one accomplishes this action because one desires to acquire this discipline. If someone desires undiscipline, he could without doubt give himself over to undiscipline for this period of time. But the case does not present itself; hence we do not recognize undiscipline "for a time. "
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According to the Sautrantikas, undiscipline does not exist in and of itself (dravyatas) apart from volition. Undiscipline is the intention to
101
? conunit evil, that is, a certain volition with the traces which allow this volition. And, as long as this volition with its traces has not been destroyed by a contrary volition, the person, even when he has a good thought, remains filled with undiscipline, a person undisciplined
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How should one undertake the discipline of a day and a night, or the
102 discipline of the fast?
28. One should undertake the fast (upavasa) in a humble attitude, speaking after, with ornaments removed, until the
103 morrow, complete, the morning, from another.
1. In a humble attitude, squatting or kneeling; with the hands joined in kapotaka (by placing the four fingers of one hand between the thumb and the index finder of the other) or in the position of anjali; except in the case of sickness. Without a respectful attitude, discipline is not produced.
2. The candidate does not speak before the ordainer or the giver, the person who "gives" the fast; nor at the same time. In this way, it is from another that one undertakes the fast; otherwise, there would be neither
104 receiving nor a thing received
3. The candidate does not wear any ornaments; he wears his normal
105 dress, because he does not draw forth vanity from it.
4. One undertakes it until the morrow, until the rising of the sun.
[5. One undertakes the complete fast, with its eight rules, and not with any rules missing (Takakuku, I-tsing, p. 188; Chavannes, Cinq centes contes, p. 136).
6. The morrow, at the rising of the sun, since this is a discipline lasting a day and a night (Vibhasd, TD 27, p. 647b29).
He who, previously, has formed the undertaking, "I will always
practice the fast, the eighth day of the fortnight, etc. ," undertakes the
106 fast, even though he eats.
7. From another, nor from oneself. If one encounters a cause of transgression, through honesty with regard to the giver, he will not violate the obligations undertaken. ]
When these rules are not observed, one has nevertheless done a
Karma 595
? good action (sucarita), but one does not obtain the discipline of the fast. When the rules are observed, the fast is even more useful for the person who commits transgressions by day and by night (hunting, murder, stealing, adultery).
107
i. The fast is termed upavasa, because, embracing a way of life
conforming to that of the Arhats, he places himself near (upa) the 108
Arhats. According to another opinion, it is because he places himself near the "lifelong discipline" (Vibbasa, TD 27, p. 648c29).
ii. It has for its end procuring an increase of the roots of good of persons who have only small roots of good As it procures (dhd) an
m increase (posa) of good, the Blessed One said, "It is called posadha. "
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no
Why is the discipline of the fast undertaken with eight parts? 29a-c.