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

The four Roads to Saintship are four means by which Iddhi (see above, § 3, note) is to be acquired. They are : —

1. The will to acquire it united to earnest meditation and the struggle against evil.

2. The necessary exertion united to earnest meditation and the struggle against evil.

3. The necessary preparation of the heart united to earnest meditation and the struggle against evil.

4. Investigation united to earnest meditation and the struggle against evil.

The five moral powers (balani) are said to be the same as the next class, called organs (indriyani). It is no doubt most remarkable that, in a summary like this, two classes out of seven should be absolutely identical except in name. The difference of name is altogether too unimportant to account, by itself, for the distinction made. Either the currently accepted explanation of one of the two aggregate terms must be incorrect, or we must look for some explanation of the repetition other than the mere desire to record the double title. Is it impossible that the one class was split into two to bring the number of the classes up to the sacred number seven, corresponding to the seven Ratanas of a Cakkavatti ?

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The details of both classes are : —

1. Faith. 2. Energy. 3. Thought. 4. Contemplation. 5. Wisdom.

The seven kinds of Wisdom are : —

1. Energy. 2. Thought. 3. Contemplation. 4. Investigation (of
Scripture). 5. Joy. 6. Repose. 7. Serenity.

The Aryan Eightfold Path consists of: —

1. Right views. 2. High aims. 3. Right speech. 4. Upright
conduct. 5. A harmless livelihood. 6. Perseverance in well-doing.
7„ Intellectual activity. 8. Right rapture.

CHAPTER IV.

i. [122] Now the Exalted One early in the morning robed himself, and taking his bowl, entered Vesali for alms ; and when he had passed through Vesali, and had eaten his meal and was returning from his almsseeking he gazed at Vesali with an elephant look 1 and addressed the venerableA Ananda, and said : — ' This will be the last time, Ananda, that the Tathagata will behold Vesali. Come, Ananda, let us go on to Bha;^a-eama.'

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' Even so, lord ! ' said the venerable Ananda, in assent, to the Exalted One.

And the Exalted One proceeded with a great company of the brethren to Bha/^a-gama ; and there the Exalted One stayed in the village itself.

2. There the Exalted One addressed the brethren, and said : — ' It is through not understanding and grasping four truths 2, O brethren, that we have had to run so long, to wander so long in this weary path of transmigration — both you and I.

' And what are these four ? The noble conduct of life, the noble earnestness in meditation, the noble kind of wisdom, and the noble salvation of freedom. [123] But when noble conduct is realized and known, when noble meditation is realized and known, when noble wisdom is realized and known, when noble freedom is realized and known — then is the craving for future life rooted out, that which leads to renewed existence is destroyed, and there is no more birth.'

1 Nagapalokitaw Vesaliyaw apaloketva. The Buddhas were accustomed, says Buddhaghosa, on looking backwards to turn the whole body round as an elephant does ; because the bones in their neck were firmly fixed, more so than those of ordinary men !

2 Or Conditions (Dhamma). They must, of course, be carefully distinguished from the better known Four Noble Truths above, p. 96.

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3. Thus spake the Exalted One ; and when the Happy One had thus spoken, then again the Teacher said l : —

' Righteousness, earnest thought, wisdom, and freedom sublime —

These are the truths realized by Gotama, farrenowned.

Knowing them, he, the knower, proclaimed the truth to the brethren.

The master with eye divine, the quencher of griefs, is at peace V

4. There too, while staying at Bha^rta-gama, the Exalted One held that comprehensive religious talk with the brethren, saying : — ' Such and such is upright conduct ; such and such is earnest contemplation ; such and such is intelligence. Great becomes the fruit, great the advantage of earnest contemplation, when it is set round with upright conduct. Great becomes the fruit, great the advantage of intellect when it is set round with earnest contemplation. The