7. The Ninefold Thread in the Mode of Conveying a Conversion
220. Herein, what is the Mode of Conveying a Conversion? It is this:
“The Mode that, when there is one Footing,
Searches for a footing that remains
And then converts the opposites
Is that Conveying a Conversion”.
221. Instigate [yourselves], launch out, devote
[Yourselves] in the Enlightened One’s Dispensation;
Scatter the armies of Mortality
As does an elephant a hut of reeds.
[The words] “Instigate yourselves, launch out” are the footing for energy. [The words] “Devote yourselves in the Enlightened One’s Dispensation” are the footing for concentration. [The words] “Scatter the armies of Mortality as does an elephant a hut of reeds” are the footing for understanding.
[The words] “Instigate yourselves, launch out” are the footing for the energy faculty. [The words] “Devote yourselves in the Enlightened One’s Dispensation” are the footing for the concentration faculty.
[The words] “Scatter the armies of Mortality as does an elephant a hut of reeds” are the footing for the understanding faculty.
These footings constitute the teaching [beginning with “Instigate yourselves”].
222. The instigation is for creatures who are either already devoting [themselves] or who are not yet devoting [themselves].
223. Herein, those not yet devoting [themselves] do not devote [themselves] owing to their being rooted in negligence. That negligence is of two kinds: rooted in craving and rooted in ignorance.
224. Herein, as to that [negligence] rooted in ignorance, such [negligence] as is shut in by such unknowing that it does not understand how the five categories are inseparable from the idea of arising and subsidence is rooted in negligence.
Such [negligence] rooted in craving is of three kinds: (i) when someone seeks for the arising of unarisen properties he falls into negligence; [and when he seeks] (ii) the sign of preservation, and (iii) the sign of use, of the arisen properties, he falls into negligence.
These are the four kinds of negligence in the world: one kind due to ignorance and three kinds due to craving.
225. Herein, the name-body is the footing for ignorance, [and] the form-body is the footing for craving. Why is that? In the kinds of being (existence) having form there is cleaving to them, and in the formless kinds of being (existence) there is confusion [about them].
226. Herein, the form-body is the form category, [and] the name-body is the four formless categories.
227. With assumption in virtue of what is it that the five are categories of assumption? In virtue of craving and ignorance.
228. Herein, craving is two kinds of assumption, namely sensual-desire assumption and virtue-and-duty assumption, while ignorance is two kinds of assumption, namely view assumption and self-doctrine assumption.
229. Any categories of assumption [so called] in virtue of these four kinds of assumption, are suffering. The Blessed One teaches the True Idea for the [respective] diagnosis and abandoning of them: for the diagnosis of suffering and the abandoning of its origin.
230. Herein, any one of the three kinds of negligence rooted in craving (1) seeks for the arising of unarisen properties, and (2) works for the preservation, and (3) the sign of use of the arisen properties.
231. Quiet guards against and prevents that [negligence] by means of full penetration. How is that? When one knows, in the case of sensual desires, the gratification as gratification, the disappointment as disappointment, the escape as escape, and also degradation, corruption, and cleansing, and the benefits of renunciation, then any inquiry, any scrutiny, therein is insight. These two ideas come to fulfilment through keeping in being, that is to say quiet and insight. When these two ideas are kept in being, two ideas are abandoned, namely craving and ignorance. When these two ideas are abandoned the four kinds of assuming cease; with cessation of assuming, cessation of being; with cessation of being, cessation of birth; with cessation of birth, ageing and death cease, and also sorrow and lamentation, pain, grief and despair; that is how there is a cessation to this whole category of suffering.
232. So there are the first two truths, namely Suffering and Origin; and quiet and insight are the Path; and cessation of being is Extinction. These are the four Truths. That is why the Blessed One said “Instigate yourselves, launch out, …”
233. Just as a tree, though felled, sprouts up again
As long as firm its root is and intact,
So too this pain springs ever and anon
With tendency to craving unimpaired.
This is the underlying-tendency to craving. To what kind of craving? To craving for being (existence). The condition for that idea is ignorance; for it is with ignorance as condition that there is craving for being (existence). These are the two defilements namely craving and ignorance. And these are the four kinds of assumption.
234. Any categories of assumption [so called] in virtue of these four kinds of assumption are Suffering. The four kinds of assumption are Origin, while the five categories are the suffering. The Blessed One teaches the True Idea for their [respective] diagnosis and abandoning: for the diagnosis of Suffering and the abandoning of Origin.
235. That whereby one eradicates the underlying-tendency to craving is quiet; that whereby one shuts off ignorance, the condition for the underlying-tendency to craving, is insight. These two ideas come to fulfilment through keeping in being, namely quiet and insight.
236. Herein, the fruit of quiet is the heart-deliverance due to fading of lust; the fruit of insight is the understanding-deliverance due to fading of ignorance.
237. So there are the first two truths, namely Suffering, and its Origin; and quiet and insight are the Path; and the two kinds of deliverance are Cessation. These are the four Truths. That is why the Blessed One said “Just as a tree …”.
238. No doing any kind of evil,
Perfecting profitable skill,
And purifying one’s own heart:
This is the Buddhas’ Dispensation.
What is called “any kind of evil” is the three kinds of misconduct, namely bodily misconduct, verbal misconduct, and mental misconduct. These are the ten unprofitable courses of action, namely killing breathing things, taking what is not given, and misconduct in sensual-desires; false speech, malicious speech, harsh speech, and gossip; and covetousness, ill will, and wrong view.
239. These are two kinds of action, namely choice and concomitant of cognizance.
240. Herein, killing breathing things, malicious speech and harsh speech are moulded by hate; taking what is not given, misconduct in sensual-desires, and false speech are moulded by greed; and gossip is moulded by delusion. These seven kinds of acting are action as choice.
241. Covetousness is greed as a root of the unprofitable; ill will is hate as a root of the unprofitable; wrong view is the wrong path. These three kinds of acting are action as concomitant of cognizance. That is why it was said “action as choice and action as concomitant of cognizance”.
242. When a root of the unprofitable comes to [expression by] the means [consisting of body or speech], it comes to [expression as] one [of the four] bad ways, namely those through will, hate, fear, or delusion.
243. Herein, when it comes to [expression as] the bad way through will, it is moulded by greed; when it comes to [expression as] the bad way through hate, it is moulded by hate; when it comes to [expression as] the bad ways through fear and delusion, it is moulded by delusion.
244. Herein, greed is abandoned by means of [contemplating] ugliness, hate by means of loving kindness, and delusion by means of understanding. Likewise, greed is abandoned by means of onlooking-equanimity, and hate by means of loving kindness and compassion, and delusion is abandoned and disappears by means of sympathetic-gladness. That is why the Blessed One said “No doing any kind of evil, …”.
245. And what is called “any kind of evil” is the eight wrongnesses, namely wrong view, wrong intention, wrong speech, wrong action, wrong livelihood, wrong effort, wrong mindfulness, and wrong concentration. These are called “any kind of evil”. Any non-effecting, non-doing, non-practising of these eight wrongnesses is called “no doing any kind of evil”.
246. When the eight wrongnesses are abandoned, the eight Rightnesses reach excellence (sampajjanti). Any effecting of, producing excellence in (sampādana), the eight Rightnesses is called “perfecting (upasampadā) profitable skill”.
247.“And purifying one’s own heart” is the effecting, keeping in being, of the (Ancient Path), it is mindfulness of that. When the heart is purified, the categories become purified. That is why the Blessed One said (Bhikkhus, a divine life is lived under a Perfect One for the purpose of purification of the heart) ()
248. The purifying is of two kinds, namely the abandoning of hindrances and the eradication of underlying-tendencies. Also there are two planes of purifying, namely the plane of seeing and the plane of keeping-in-being.
249. Herein, that by the penetration of which one purifies is Suffering. That from which one purifies is the Origin. That by which one purifies is the Path. And that which is purified is Cessation. These are the four Truths. Hence the Blessed One said “No doing any kind of evil …”.
250. The True Idea guards him that walks therein,
As does a big umbrella in time of rain.
The Ideal’s reward when walked in right is this:
Who walks therein has no bad destination.
What is called “the True Idea” is of two kinds, namely (1) faculty-restraint and (2) the Path. A “bad destination” is of two kinds, as follows: compared with gods and human beings, the states of unease are a bad destination; but compared with extinction, all kinds of reappearance are a bad destination.
251. (1) Herein, in the case of virtue as restraint, there is the keeping of it untorn, and this True Idea when walked in right guards one from the states of unease. Accordingly the Blessed One said (Bhikkhus, there are two kinds of destination for one who is virtuous: the gods and human beings) ()
And accordingly the Gāmaṇī Asibandhakaputta said to the Blessed One in the town of Nālandā (“Venerable sir, there are Divines of the West Country (?) who use a kamaṇḍalu (ascetic’s drinking-vessel), who wear water-weed garlands, who [morning and evening] go down to the water, and who worship fires. When someone is deceased and dead they cajole and coerce him, trying to get him a footing in heaven. Now, venerable sir, is the Blessed One capable of so doing that all the world, on the dissolution of the body, after death, reappears in a good destination, in the heavenly world”?—“As to that, Gāmaṇī, I shall ask you a question in return; answer it as you like. How do you conceive this, Gāmaṇī? Here a man might be a killer of breathing things, a taker of what is not given, misconducted in sensual desires, a speaker of falsehood, a malicious speaker, a harsh speaker, a gossip, covetous, with ill will in his heart, and wrong in his view. Then a large body of people met and foregathered, and they begged and implored and beseeched with hands extended palms together ‘Oh let this man, on the dissolution of the body, after death, reappear in a good destination, in the heavenly world’, how do you conceive this, Gāmaṇī, because of that large body of people’s begging, because of their imploring, because of their beseeching with hands extended palms together, would that man, on the dissolution of the body, after death, reappear in a happy destination in the heavenly world”?—“No, venerable sir”.—“Gāmaṇī, suppose a man threw a big solid stone into a deep pool of water, and then a large body of people met and foregathered, and they begged and they implored and they beseeched with hands extended palms together ‘Oh sirs, let the solid stone emerge, oh sirs, let the solid stone float up, oh sirs, let the solid stone float to dry land’, how do you conceive this, Gāmaṇī, because of their begging, because of their imploring, because of their beseeching with hands extended palms together, would that solid stone emerge, would it float up, would it float to dry land”?—“No, venerable sir”.—“So too, Gāmaṇī, when a man is a killer of breathing things, … and wrong in his view, for all that a large body of people might meet and foregather and might beg and implore and beseech with hands extended palms together ‘Oh let this man, on the dissolution of the body, after death, reappear in a good destination, in the heavenly world’, yet that man, on the dissolution of the body, after death, might reappear in a state of unease, in a bad destination, in perdition, in hell. How do you conceive this, Gāmaṇī? Here a man might have abstained from killing breathing things, … right in his view. Then a large body of people met and foregathered and they begged and implored and beseeched with hands extended palms together ‘Oh let this man, on the dissolution of the body, after death, reappear in a state of unease, in a bad destination, in perdition, in hell’, how do you conceive this, Gāmaṇī, because of that large body of people’s begging, because of their imploring, because of their beseeching with hands extended palms together, would that man, on the dissolution of the body, after death, reappear in a state of unease, in a bad destination, in perdition, in hell”?—“No, venerable sir”.—“Gāmaṇī, suppose a man sank a ghee-pot or an oil-pot in a deep water-pool and fixed it so that any sand or gravel there might be in it would go to the bottom and any ghee or oil there might be in it would go to the top, and then a large body of people met and foregathered and they begged and implored and beseeched with hands extended palms together ‘Oh sirs, let the ghee, the oil, sink; oh sirs, let the ghee, the oil, go down’, how do you conceive this, Gāmaṇī, because of that large body of people’s begging, because of their imploring, because of their beseeching with hands extended palms together, would that ghee, that oil, sink down, go down”?—“No, venerable sir”. “So too, Gāmaṇī, when a man abstains from killing breathing things, … right in his view, for all that a large body of people might meet and foregather and might beg and implore and beseech with hands extended palms together ‘Oh let this man, on the dissolution of the body, after death, reappear in a state of unease, in a bad destination, in perdition, in hell’, yet that man, on the dissolution of the body, after death, might reappear in a good destination, in the heavenly world”).
So it is this True Idea that, when walked in right, guards one from the states of unease.
252. (2) Herein, it is the keenness, the outstandingness, of the Path that is the “True Idea” which, when walked in right, guards one from all kinds of reappearing. Accordingly the Blessed One said:
So let his cognizance be guarded,
Having for pasture right intention,
Giving right view first place through knowing
Rise and fall; transcending drowsing
And lethargy, the bhikkhu may
Abandon all bad destinations.
253. Herein, the cause of the bad destinations is craving and ignorance. These are the four kinds of assuming.
254. Any categories of assuming [so called] in virtue of these four kinds of assuming are Suffering. The four kinds of assuming are Origin, while the five categories are Suffering. The Blessed One teaches the True Idea for their [respective] diagnosis and abandoning: for the diagnosis of Suffering and for the abandoning of its Origin.
255. Herein, the five faculties that have form are the footing for craving while the mind-faculty is the footing for ignorance.
256. One who guards the five faculties that have form keeps concentration in being and deters craving, while one who guards the mind-faculty keeps insight in being and deters ignorance.
257. With the deterrence of craving two kinds of assuming are abandoned, namely sensual-desire assuming and virtue-and-duty assuming, while with the deterrence of ignorance two kinds of assuming are abandoned, namely view assuming and self-doctrine assuming.
258. When the four kinds of assuming are abandoned, two ideas come to fulfilment through keeping in being, namely quiet and insight: this is called the Divine Life.
259. Herein, the fruit of the Divine Life is the four fruits of the monk’s state, namely the fruit of Stream-Entry, fruit of Once-Return, fruit of Non-Return and the highest fruit which is Arahantship. These are the four fruits of the Divine Life.
260. So there are the first two Truths, namely Suffering and its Origin; and quiet and insight and the Divine Life are the Path; and the fruits of the Divine Life and the Undetermined Element, which is the object of these, are Cessation. These are the four Truths. That is why the Blessed One said “The True Idea guards …”.
261. Herein, that by the penetration of which it guards is Suffering. That from which it guards is Origin. That by which it guards is the Path. And that which guards is Cessation. These are the four Truths.
262. That is why the venerable Mahā-Kaccāna said:
“The Mode that, when there is one Footing,
Searches for a footing that remains
And then converts the opposites
Is that Conveying a Conversion”.
The Mode Conveying a Conversion is ended.