Dialogues of the Buddha, Part II — trans. T. W. and C. A. F. Rhys Davids (1910)

'And the distinction I have affirmed in happiness, was drawn on these grounds : — When in following- after happiness I have perceived that bad qualities developed and good qualities were diminished, then that kind of happiness was to be avoided. And when, following after happiness, I have perceived that bad qualities were diminished and good qualities developed, then such happiness was to be followed. Now of such happiness as is accompanied by pre-occupation and travail of mind, and of such as is not so accompanied, the latter is the more excellent.

1 Thus, ruler of gods, when I declare happiness to be

1 Papafica-sanfia (idde fixe). An exactly similar sequence of ethical states is put elsewhere (M. I, 111, 112) into the mouth of Maha Kaccana. Buddhaghosa glosses pap ana here by mattappamatta.kara-pa.pana, where papana is etymological word-play, and mattappamatta may be rendered 'infatuation.' The infatuation is either craving (tawha) in one or other of its 108 forms, or self-conceit (man a) in one or other of its nine /orms, or speculation (di/Mi) in one or other of its sixty-two forms.

This is one of the most recurrent conceptions of the higher Buddhism, the system of the Aryan Path (see above, Vol. I, p. 188), and is one of the many ways in which the early Buddhists struggled to give more precise and ethical an implication to the Indian conception of Avijja. It is also one of the technical terms most frequently misunderstood. Neumann all through the Majjhima renders it Vielheit, plurality, and Dahlke follows him.

p. 313

twofold, according as it is to be followed after, or avoided, I say so for that reason.

' Again, ruler of gods, when I declare sorrow to be twofold, according as it is to be followed after, or avoided, for what reason do I say so ? When, in following after sorrow * I have perceived that bad qualities developed and good qualities were diminished, then that kind of sorrow was to be avoided. And when, following after sorrow, I have perceived that bad qualities were diminished and good qualities were developed, then such sorrow was to be followed after. Now of such sorrow as is accompanied by pre-occupation and travail of mind, and of such as is not so accompanied, the latter2 is the more excellent. Thus, ruler of gods, when I declare sorrow to be twofold, according as it is to be followed after, or avoided, I say so for that reason.

' [279] Again, ruler of gods, when I declare equanimity to be twofold, according as it is to be followed after, or avoided, for what reason do I say so ? When, in following after equanimity, I have perceived that bad qualities developed and good qualities were diminished, then that kind of equanimity was to be avoided. And when, following after equanimity, I perceived that bad qualities were diminished and good qualities were developed, then that kind of equanimity was to be followed after 3. Now of such equanimity

p. 3

as is accompanied by pre-occupation and travail of mind and of such as is not so accompanied, the latter is the more excellent. Thus, ruler of gods, when I declare equanimity to be twofold, according as it is to be followed after, or avoided, I say so for that reason.

1 The two sorts of sorrow or grief are geha-sita and nekkhammasita, and are well paralleled by St. Paul's tov koct/jlov Xv7rrj and Kara Oebv Xvirrj (2 Cor. vii. 10). And the working of the latter: 'for that ye sorrowed after a godly sort . . . wrought in you . . . what vehement desire, yea, what zeal' — has its counterpart in Buddhaghosa's exposition, namely, that through insight into the impermanence of all sensuous satisfaction ' arouses yearning for deliverances even without beyond (anuttaresu), and that yearning leads to sorrow, when one thinks, O that I might reach that state wherein the elect (Ariyas) do dwell even now.'

2 According to the Cy., 'the latter' in this and the foregoing paragraph refers especially to the state of mind reached in the second and higher stages of Jhana, as compared with the first, which is savitakkaw savicaraw/.

3 For equanimity thus ethically distinguished, see M. I, 364. The

' And it is on this wise that a bhikkhu, ruler of gods, must have gone about, who has reached the path suitable for, and leading to, the cessation of perceiving and taking account of distractions.'