                                                                           
                                                                            
                                                                            
                                     500 BC                                 
                                                                            
                                BUDDHA, THE WORD                            
                                                                            
                             Edited by Nyanatiloka                          
                                                                            
                                                                            
                                                                            
                                                                            
                                                                            
                                                                            
                                                                            
                                                                            
                                                                            
                                                                            
                                                                            
                                                                    
                                                                            
                               CONTENTS                                     
                                                                            
      THE FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS                                                 
           First Truth - The Noble Truth of Suffering                       
           Second Truth - The Noble Truth of the Origin of                  
             Suffering                                                      
           Third Truth - The Noble Truth of the Extinction of               
             Suffering                                                      
           Fourth Truth - The Noble Truth of the Path That Leads            
             to the Extinction of Suffering                                 
                                                                            
      THE EIGHTFOLD PATH                                                    
           First Step - Right Understanding                                 
           Second Step - Right Mindedness                                   
           Third Step - Right Speech                                        
           Fourth Step - Right Action                                       
           Fifth Step - Right Living                                        
           Sixth Step - Right Effort                                        
           Seventh Step - Right Attentiveness                               
           Eighth Step - Right Concentration                                
           Development of the Eightfold Path in the Disciple                
                                                                            
                                                                            

                         THE FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS                              
                                                                            
  THUS has it been said by the Buddha, the Enlightened One: It is           
through not understanding, not realizing four things, that I,               
Disciples, as well as you, had to wander so long through this round of      
rebirths. And what are these four things? They are the Noble Truth          
of Suffering, the Noble Truth of the Origin of Suffering, the Noble         
Truth of the Extinction of Suffering, the Noble Truth of the Path that      
leads to the Extinction of Suffering.                                       
  As long as the absolutely true knowledge and insight as regards           
these Four Noble Truths was not quite clear in me, so long was I not        
sure, whether I had won that supreme Enlightenment which is                 
unsurpassed in all the world with its heavenly beings, evil spirits         
and gods, amongst all the hosts of ascetics and priests, heavenly           
beings and men. But as soon as the absolutely true knowledge and            
insight as regards these Four Noble Truths had become perfectly             
clear in me, there arose in me the assurance that I had won that            
supreme Enlightenment unsurpassed.                                          
  And I discovered that profound truth, so difficult to perceive,           
difficult to understand, tranquilizing and sublime, which is not to be      
gained by mere reasoning, and is visible only to the wise.                  
  The world, however, is given to pleasure, delighted with pleasure,        
enchanted with pleasure. Verily, such beings will hardly understand         
the law of conditionality, the Dependent Origination of every thing;        
incomprehensible to them will also be the end of all formations, the        
forsaking of every substratum of rebirth, the fading away of                
craving; detachment, extinction, Nirvana.                                   
  Yet there are beings whose eyes are only a little covered with dust:      
they will understand the truth.                                             
                                                                            
                                                                            
                                                                            

                             FIRST TRUTH                                    
                     THE NOBLE TRUTH OF SUFFERING                           
                                                                            
  WHAT, now, is the Noble Truth of Suffering?                               
  Birth is suffering; Decay is suffering; Death is suffering;               
Sorrow, Lamentation, Pain, Grief, and Despair, are suffering; not to        
get what one desires, is suffering; in short: the Five Groups of            
Existence are suffering.                                                    
  What, now, is Birth? The birth of beings belonging to this or that        
order of beings, their being born, their conception and springing into      
existence, the manifestation of the groups of existence, the arising        
of sense activity- this is called Birth.                                    
  And what is Decay? The decay of beings belonging to this or that          
order of beings; their getting aged, frail, grey, and wrinkled; the         
failing of their vital force, the wearing out of the senses- this is        
called Decay.                                                               
  And what is Death? The parting and vanishing of beings out of this        
or that order of beings, their destruction, disappearance, death,           
the completion of their life-period, dissolution of the groups of           
existence, the discarding of the body- this is called Death.                
                                                                            
  And what is Sorrow? The sorrow arising through this or that loss          
or misfortune which one encounters, the worrying oneself, the state of      
being alarmed, inward sorrow, inward woe- this is called Sorrow.            
  And what is Lamentation? Whatsoever, through this or that loss or         
misfortune which befalls one, is wail and lament, wailing and               
lamenting, the state of woe and lamentation- this is called                 
Lamentation.                                                                
  And what is Pain? The bodily pain and unpleasantness, the painful         
and unpleasant feeling produced by bodily contact- this is called           
Pain.                                                                       
  And what is Grief? The mental pain and unpleasantness, the painful        
and unpleasant feeling produced by mental contact- this is called           
Grief.                                                                      
  And what is Despair? Distress and despair arising through this or         
that loss or misfortune which one encounters, distressfulness, and          
desperation- this is called Despair.                                        
  And what is the "suffering of not getting what one desires?" To           
beings subject to birth there comes the desire: "O that we were not         
subject to birth! O that no new birth was before us!" Subject to            
decay, disease, death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief, and                
despair, the desire comes to them: "O that we were not subject to           
these things! O that these things were not before us!" But this cannot      
be got by mere desiring; and not to get what one desires, is                
suffering.                                                                  
                                                                            
                     THE FIVE GROUPS OF EXISTENCE                           
                                                                            
  And what, in brief, are the Five Groups of Existence? They are            
Corporeality, Feeling, Perception, [mental] Formations, and                 
Consciousness.                                                              
  Any corporeal phenomenon, whether one's own or external, gross or         
subtle, lofty or low, far or near, belongs to the Group of                  
Corporeality; any feeling belongs to the Group of Feeling; any              
perception belongs to the Group of Perception; any mental formation         
belongs to the Group of Formations; all consciousness belongs to the        
Group of Consciousness.                                                     
                                                                            
  [Our so-called individual existence is in reality nothing but a mere      
process of these "bodily and mental" phenomena, which since immemorial      
times was going on before one's apparent birth, and which also after        
death will continue for immemorial periods of time. In the                  
following, we shall see that these five Groups, or Khandhas- either         
taken separately, or combined- in no way constitute any real                
"Ego-entity," and that no Ego-entity exists apart from them, and hence      
that the belief in an Ego-entity is merely an illusion.                     
  Just as that which we designate by the name of "chariot," has no          
existence apart from axle, wheels, shaft, and so forth: or as the word      
"house" is merely a convenient designation for various materials put        
together after a certain fashion so as to enclose a portion of space,       
and there is no separate house-entity in existence:- in exactly the         
same way, that which we call a "being," or an "individual," or a            
"person," or by the name "I," is nothing but a changing combination of      
physical and psychical phenomena, and has no real existence in              
itself.]                                                                    
                                                                            
              THE "CORPOREALITY GROUP" OF FOUR ELEMENTS                     
                                                                            
                                                                            
  What, now, is the Group of Corporeality? It is the four primary           
elements, and Corporeality derived from them.                               
  And what are the four primary elements? They are the Solid                
Element, the Fluid Element, the Heating Element, the Vibrating              
Element.                                                                    
                                                                            
  [The four elements, or- to speak more correctly- the four elementary      
qualities of matter, may be rendered in English as: Inertia, Cohesion,      
Radiation, and Vibration.                                                   
  The twenty-four corporeal phenomena which depend upon them are,           
according to the Abhidharma: eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, visible          
form, sound, odor, taste, masculinity, femininity, vitality, organ          
of thinking, gesture, speech, space (cavities of ear, nose, etc.),          
agility, elasticity, adaptability, growth, duration, decay,                 
variability, change of substance.]                                          
                                                                            
  1. What, now, is the Solid Element? The solid element may be one's        
own, or it may be external. And what is one's own solid element? The        
dependent properties, which on one's own person and body are hard           
and solid, as the hairs of head and body, nails, teeth, skin, flesh,        
sinews, bones, marrow, kidneys, heart, liver, diaphragm, spleen,            
lungs, stomach, bowels, mesentery, excrement, or whatever other             
dependent properties which on one's own person and body are hard and        
solid- this is called one's own solid element. Now, whether it be           
one's own solid element, or whether it be the external solid element,       
they are both only the solid element.                                       
  And one should understand, according to reality, and true wisdom:         
"This does not belong to me; this am I not; this is not my Ego."            
   2. What, now, is the Fluid Element? The fluid element may be             
one's own, or it may be external. And what is one own fluid element?        
The dependent properties, which on one's own person and body are            
watery or cohesive, as bile, phlegm, pus, blood, sweat, lymph,              
tears, semen, spit, nasal mucus, oil of the joints, urine or                
whatever other dependent properties which on one's own person and body      
are watery or cohesive- this is called one's own fluid element. Now,        
whether it be one's own fluid element, or whether it be the external        
fluid element, they are both only the fluid element.                        
  And one should understand, according to reality, and true wisdom:         
"This does not belong to me; this am I not; this is not my Ego."            
  3. What, now, is the Heating Element? The heating element may be          
one's own, or it may be external. And what is one's own heating             
element? The dependent properties, which on one's own person and body       
are heating and radiating, as that whereby one is heated, consumed,         
scorched, whereby that which has been eaten, drunk, chewed, or tasted,      
is fully digested; or whatever other dependent properties, which on         
one's own person and body are heating and radiating- this is called         
one's own heating element. Now, whether it be one's own heating             
element, or whether it be the external heating element, they are both       
only the heating element.                                                   
  And one should understand, according to reality, and true wisdom:         
"This does not belong to me; this am I not; this is not my Ego."            
  4. What, now, is the Vibrating Element? The vibrating element may be      
one's own, or it may be external. And what is one's own vibrating           
element? The dependent properties, which on one's own person and            
body are mobile and gaseous, as the upward-going and downward-going         
winds; the winds of stomach and intestines; in-breathing and                
out-breathing; or whatever other dependent properties, which on             
one's own person and body are mobile and gaseous- this is called            
one's own vibrating element. Now, whether it be one's own vibrating         
element, or whether it be the external vibrating element, they are          
both only the vibrating element.                                            
  And one should understand, according to reality, and true wisdom:         
"This does not belong to me; this am I not; this is not my Ego."            
  Just as one calls "hut" the circumscribed space which comes to be by      
means of wood and rushes, reeds, and clay, even so we call "body"           
the circumscribed space that comes to be by means of bones and sinews,      
flesh and skin.                                                             
                                                                            
                DEPENDENT ORIGINATION OF CONSCIOUSNESS                      
                                                                            
  Now, though one's eye be intact, yet if the external forms do not         
fall within the field of vision, and no corresponding conjunction           
takes place, in that case there occurs no formation of the                  
corresponding aspect of consciousness. Or, though one's eye be intact,      
and the external forms fall within the field of vision, yet if no           
corresponding conjunction takes place, in that case also there              
occurs no formation of the corresponding aspect of consciousness.           
If, however, one's eye is intact, and the external forms fall within        
the field of vision, and the corresponding conjunction takes place, in      
that case there arises the corresponding aspect of consciousness.           
  Hence, I say: the arising of consciousness is dependent upon              
conditions; and without these conditions, no consciousness arises. And      
upon whatsoever conditions the arising of consciousness is                  
dependent, after these it is called.                                        
  Consciousness whose arising depends on the eye and forms, is              
called "eye-consciousness."                                                 
  Consciousness whose arising depends on the ear and sound, is              
called "ear-consciousness."                                                 
  Consciousness whose arising depends on the olfactory organ and            
odors, is called "nose-consciousness."                                      
  Consciousness whose arising depends on the tongue and taste, is           
called "tongue-consciousness."                                              
  Consciousness whose arising depends on the body and bodily contacts,      
is called "body-consciousness."                                             
  Consciousness whose arising depends on the mind and ideas, is called      
"mind-consciousness."                                                       
  Whatsoever there is of "corporeality" in the consciousness thus           
arisen, that belongs to the Group of Corporeality. Whatsoever there is      
of "feeling"- bodily ease, pain, joy, sadness, or indifferent               
feeling- belongs to the Group of Feeling. Whatsoever there is of            
"perception"- visual objects, sounds, odors, tastes, bodily                 
impressions, or mind-objects- belongs to the Group of Perception.           
Whatsoever there are of mental "formations"- impression, volition,          
etc.- belong to the Group of mental Formations. Whatsoever there is         
of "consciousness" therein, belongs to the Group of Consciousness.          
  And it is impossible that any one can explain the passing out of one      
existence, and the entering into a new existence, or the growth,            
increase, and development of consciousness, independent of                  
corporeality, feeling, perception, and mental formations.                   
                                                                            
                THE THREE CHARACTERISTICS OF EXISTENCE                      
                                                                            
  All formations are "transient"; all formations are "subject to            
suffering"; all things are "without an Ego-entity." Corporeality is         
transient, feeling is transient, perception is transient, mental            
formations are transient, consciousness is transient.                       
  And that which is transient, is subject to suffering; and of that         
which is transient, and subject to suffering and change, one cannot         
rightly say: "This belongs to me; this am I; this is my Ego."               
  Therefore, whatever there be of corporeality, of feeling,                 
perception, mental formations, or consciousness, whether one's own          
or external, whether gross or subtle, lofty or low, far or near, one        
should understand, according to reality, and true wisdom: "This does        
not belong to me; this am I not; this is not my Ego."                       
  Suppose, a man who is not blind, were to behold the many bubbles          
on the Ganges as they are driving along; and he should watch them, and      
carefully examine them. After carefully examining them, they will           
appear to him empty, unreal, and unsubstantial. In exactly the same         
way, does the monk behold all the corporeal phenomena, feelings,            
perceptions, mental formations, and states of consciousness- whether        
they be of the past, or the present, or the future, far, or near.           
And he watches them, and examines them carefully; and, after carefully      
examining them, they appear to him empty, void, and without an Ego          
  Whoso delights in corporeality, or feeling, or perception, or mental      
formations, or consciousness, he delights in suffering; and whoso           
delights in suffering, will not be freed from suffering. Thus I say         
                                                                            
          How can you find delight and mirth,                               
          Where there is burning without end?                               
          In deepest darkness you are wrapped!                              
          Why do you not seek for the light?                                
                                                                            
          Look at this puppet here, well rigged,                            
          A heap of many sores, piled up,                                   
          Diseased, and full of greediness,                                 
          Unstable, and impermanent!                                        
                                                                            
          Devoured by old age is this frame,                                
          A prey of sickness, weak and frail;                               
          To pieces breaks this putrid body,                                
          All life must truly end in death.                                 
                                                                            
                          THE THREE WARNINGS                                
                                                                            
  Did you never see in the world a man, or a woman, eighty, ninety, or      
a hundred years old, frail, crooked as a gable roof, bent down,             
resting on crutches, with tottering steps, infirm, youth long since         
fled, with broken teeth, grey and scanty hair, or bald-headed,              
wrinkled, with blotched limbs? And did the thought never come to you        
that also you are subject to decay, that also you cannot escape it?         
  Did you never see in the world a man, or a woman, who being sick,         
afflicted, and grievously ill, and wallowing in his own filth, was          
lifted up by some people, and put to bed by others? And did the             
thought never come to you that also you are subject to disease, that        
also you cannot escape it?                                                  
  Did you never see in the world the corpse of a man, or a woman, one,      
or two, or three days after death, swollen up, blue-black in color,         
and full of corruption? And did the thought never come to you that          
also you are subject to death, that also you cannot escape it?              
                                                                            
                   SAMSARA, THE WHEEL OF EXISTENCE                          
                                                                            
  Inconceivable is the beginning of this Samsara; not to be discovered      
is any first beginning of beings, who, obstructed by ignorance, and         
ensnared by craving, are hurrying and hastening through this round          
of rebirths.                                                                
                                                                            
  [Samsara- the Wheel of Existence, lit., the "Perpetual                    
Wandering"- is the name by which is designated the sea of life ever         
restlessly heaving up and down, the symbol of this continuous               
process of ever again and again being born, growing old, suffering,         
and dying. More precisely put: Samsara is the unbroken chain of the         
fivefold Khandha-combinations, which, constantly changing from              
moment to moment, follow continuously one upon the other through            
inconceivable periods of time. Of this Samsara, a single lifetime           
constitutes only a vanishingly tiny fraction; hence, to be able to          
comprehend the first noble truth, one must let one's gaze rest upon         
the Samsara, upon this frightful chain of rebirths, and not merely          
upon one single lifetime, which, of course, may be sometimes not            
very painful.]                                                              
                                                                            
  Which do you think is the more: the flood of tears, which weeping         
and wailing you have shed upon this long way- hurrying and hastening        
through this round of rebirths, united with the undesired, separated        
from the desired- this, or the waters of the four oceans?                   
  Long time have you suffered the death of father and mother, of sons,      
daughters, brothers, and sisters. And whilst you were thus                  
suffering, you have, verily, shed more tears upon this long way than        
there is water in the four oceans.                                          
  Which do you think is the more: the streams of blood that, through        
your being beheaded, have flowed upon this long way, or the waters          
in the four oceans?                                                         
  Long time have you been caught as dacoits, or highwaymen, or              
adulterers; and, through your being beheaded, verily, more blood has        
flowed upon this long way than there is water in the four oceans.           
  But how is this possible?                                                 
  Inconceivable is the beginning of this Samsara; not to be discovered      
is any first beginning of beings, who, obstructed by ignorance, and         
ensnared by craving, are hurrying and hastening through this round          
of rebirths.                                                                
  And thus have you long time undergone suffering, undergone                
torment, undergone misfortune, and filled the graveyards full; verily,      
long enough to be dissatisfied with all the forms of existence, long        
enough to turn away, and free yourselves from them all.                     
                                                                            
                                                                            

                             SECOND TRUTH                                   
              THE NOBLE TRUTH OF THE ORIGIN OF SUFFERING                    
                                                                            
  WHAT, now, is the Noble Truth of the Origin of Suffering? It is that      
craving which gives rise to fresh rebirth, and, bound up with pleasure      
and lust, now here, now there, finds ever fresh delight.                    
                                                                            
  [In the absolute sense, it is no real being, no self-determined,          
unchangeable, Ego-entity that is reborn. Moreover, there is nothing         
that remains the same even for two consecutive moments; for the Five        
Khandhas, or Groups of Existence, are in a state of perpetual               
change, of continual dissolution and renewal. They die every moment,        
and every moment new ones are born. Hence it follows that there is          
no such thing as a real existence, or "being" (Latin esse), but only        
as it were an endless process, a continuous change, a "becoming,"           
consisting in a "producing," and in a "being produced"; in a                
"process of action," and in a "process of reaction," or "rebirth."          
  This process of perpetual "producing" and "being produced" may            
best be compared with an ocean wave. In the case of a wave, there is        
not the slightest quantity of water traveling over the surface of           
the sea. But the wave structure, that hastens over the surface of           
the water, creating the appearance of one and the same mass of              
water, is, in reality, nothing but the continuous rising and falling        
of continuous, but quite different, masses of water, produced by the        
transmission of force generated by the wind. Even so, the Buddha did        
not teach that Ego-entities hasten through the ocean of rebirth, but        
merely life-waves, which, according to their nature and activities          
(good, or evil), manifest themselves here as men, there as animals,         
and elsewhere as invisible beings.]                                         
                                                                            
                        THE THREEFOLD CRAVING                               
                                                                            
  There is the "Sensual Craving," the "Craving for Eternal Existence,"      
the "Craving for Self-Annihilation."                                        
                                                                            
  [The "Craving for Eternal Existence," according to the                    
Visuddhi-Magga, is intimately connected with the so-called                  
"Eternity-Belief," i.e., the belief in an absolute, eternal,                
Ego-entity persisting independently of our body.                            
  The Craving for Self-Annihilation is the outcome of the so-called         
"Annihilation-Belief," the delusive materialistic notion of an Ego          
which is annihilated at death, and which does not stand in any              
causal relation with the time before birth or after death.]                 
                                                                            
  But, where does this craving arise and take root? Wherever in the         
world there are delightful and pleasurable things, there this               
craving arises and takes root. Eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind,      
are delightful and pleasurable: there this craving arises and takes         
root.                                                                       
  Visual objects, sounds, smells, tastes, bodily impressions, and           
mind-objects, are delightful and pleasurable: there this craving            
arises and takes root.                                                      
  Consciousness, sense impression, feeling born of sense impression,        
perception, will, craving, thinking, and reflecting, are delightful         
and pleasurable: there this craving arises and takes root.                  
  If, namely, when perceiving a visual object, a sound, odor, taste,        
bodily impression, or a mind object, the object is pleasant, one is         
attracted; and if unpleasant, one is repelled.                              
  Thus, whatever kind of "Feeling" one experiences,- pleasant,              
unpleasant, or indifferent- one approves of, and cherishes the              
feeling, and clings to it; and while doing so, lust springs up; but         
lust for feelings, means Clinging; and on Clinging, depends the             
"Process of Becoming"; on the Process of Becoming (Karma-process),          
depends (future) "Birth"; and dependent on Birth, are Decay and Death,      
Sorrow, Lamentation, Pain, Grief, and Despair. Thus arises this             
whole mass of suffering.                                                    
  This is called the Noble Truth of the Origin of Suffering.                
                                                                            
                   HEAPING UP OF PRESENT SUFFERING                          
                                                                            
  Verily, due to sensuous craving, conditioned through sensuous             
craving, impelled by sensuous craving, entirely moved by sensuous           
craving, kings fight with kings, princes with princes, priests with         
priests, citizens with citizens; the mother quarrels with the son, the      
son with the mother, the father with the son, the son with the father;      
brother quarrels with brother, brother with sister, sister with             
brother, friend with friend. Thus, given to dissension, quarreling and      
fighting, they fall upon one another with fists, sticks, or weapons.        
And thereby they suffer death or deadly pain.                               
  And further, due to sensuous craving, conditioned through sensuous        
craving, impelled by sensuous craving, entirely moved by sensuous           
craving, people break into houses, rob, plunder, pillage whole houses,      
commit highway robbery, seduce the wives of others. Then, the rulers        
have such people caught, and inflict on them various forms of               
punishment. And thereby they incur death or deadly pain. Now, this          
is the misery of sensuous craving, the heaping up of suffering in this      
present life, due to sensuous craving, conditioned through sensuous         
craving, caused by sensuous craving, entirely dependent on sensuous         
craving.                                                                    
                                                                            
                    HEAPING UP OF FUTURE SUFFERING                          
                                                                            
  And further, people take the evil way in deeds, the evil way in           
words, the evil way in thoughts; and by taking the evil way in              
deeds, words, and thoughts, at the dissolution of the body, after           
death, they fall into a downward state of existence, a state of             
suffering, into perdition, and the abyss of hell. But, this is the          
misery of sensuous craving, the heaping up of suffering in the              
future life, due to sensuous craving, conditioned through sensuous          
craving, caused by sensuous craving, entirely dependent on sensuous         
craving.                                                                    
                                                                            
          Not in the air, nor ocean-midst,                                  
          Nor hidden in the mountain clefts,                                
          Nowhere is found a place on earth,                                
          Where man is freed from evil deeds.                               
                                                                            
                    INHERITANCE OF DEEDS (KARMA)                            
                                                                            
  For, owners of their deeds (karma) are the beings, heirs of their         
deeds; their deeds are the womb from which they sprang; with their          
deeds they are bound up; their deeds are their refuge. Whatever deeds       
they do- good or evil- of such they will be the heirs.                      
  And wherever the beings spring into existence, there their deeds          
will ripen; and wherever their deeds ripen, there they will earn the        
fruits of those deeds, be it in this life, or be it in the next             
life, or be it in any other future life.                                    
  There will come a time, when the mighty ocean will dry up, vanish,        
and be no more. There will come a time, when the mighty earth will          
be devoured by fire, perish, and be no more. But, yet there will be no      
end to the suffering of beings, who, obstructed by ignorance, and           
ensnared by craving, are hurrying and hastening through this round          
of rebirths.                                                                
                                                                            
                                                                            

                             THIRD TRUTH                                    
            THE NOBLE TRUTH OF THE EXTINCTION OF SUFFERING                  
                                                                            
  WHAT, now, is the Noble Truth of the Extinction of Suffering? It          
is the complete fading away and extinction of this craving, its             
forsaking and giving up, the liberation and detachment from it.             
  But where may this craving vanish, where may it be extinguished?          
Wherever in the world there are delightful and pleasurable things,          
there this craving may vanish, there it may be extinguished.                
  Be it in the past, present, or future, whosoever of the monks or          
priests regards the delightful and pleasurable things in the world          
as "impermanent," "miserable," and "without an Ego," as a disease           
and cancer; it is he who overcomes the craving.                             
  And released from Sensual Craving, released from the Craving for          
Existence, he does not return, does not enter again into existence.         
                                                                            
                DEPENDENT EXTINCTION OF ALL PHENOMENA                       
                                                                            
  For, through the total fading away and extinction of Craving,             
Clinging is extinguished; through the extinction of clinging, the           
Process of Becoming is extinguished; through the extinction of the          
(karmic) process of becoming, Rebirth is extinguished; and through          
the extinction of rebirth, Decay and Death, Sorrow, Lamentation,            
Suffering, Grief, and Despair, are extinguished. Thus comes about           
the extinction of this whole mass of suffering.                             
  Hence, the annihilation, cessation, and overcoming of                     
corporeality, feeling, perception, mental formations, and                   
consciousness, this is the extinction of suffering, the end of              
disease, the overcoming of old age and death.                               
                                                                            
  [The undulatory motion, which we call wave- which in the spectator        
creates the illusion of a single mass of water moving over the surface      
of the lake- is produced and fed by the wind, and maintained by the         
stored-up energies. After the wind has ceased, and no fresh wind again      
whips up the water, the stored-up energies will gradually be consumed,      
and the whole undulatory motion come to an end. Similarly, if fire          
does not get new fuel, it will become extinct. Just so, this                
Five-Khandha-process- which, in the ignorant worldling, creates the         
illusion of an Ego-entity- is produced and fed by the life-affirming        
craving, and maintained for some time by means of the stored-up             
life-energies. Now, after the fuel, i.e., the craving and clinging          
to life, has ceased, and no new craving impels again this                   
Five-Khandha-process, life will continue as long as there are still         
life-energies stored up, but at their destruction at death, the             
Five-Khandha-process will reach final extinction.                           
  Thus, nirvana or "Extinction" (Sanskrit: to cease blowing, to             
become extinct), may be considered under two aspects:                       
  1. "Extinction of Impurities," reached at the attainment of               
Arahatship, or Holiness, which takes place during the life-time.            
  2. "Extinction of the Five-Khandha-process," which takes place at         
the death of the Arahat.]                                                   
                                                                            
                               NIRVANA                                      
                                                                            
  This, truly, is the Peace, this is the Highest, namely the end of         
all formations, the forsaking of every substratum of rebirth, the           
fading away of craving: detachment, extinction- Nirvana.                    
  Enraptured with lust, enraged with anger, blinded by delusion,            
overwhelmed, with mind ensnared, man aims at his own ruin, at               
others' ruin, at the ruin of both parties, and he experiences mental        
pain and grief. But, if lust, anger, and delusion are given up, man         
aims neither at his own ruin, nor at others' ruin, nor at the ruin          
of both parties, and he experiences no mental pain and grief. Thus          
is Nirvana immediate, visible in this life, inviting, attractive,           
and comprehensible to the wise.                                             
  The extinction of greed, the extinction of anger, the extinction          
of delusion: this, indeed, is called Nirvana.                               
                                                                            
                       THE ARAHAT, OR HOLY ONE                              
                                                                            
  And for a disciple thus freed, in whose heart dwells peace, there is      
nothing to be added to what has been done, and naught more remains for      
him to do. Just as a rock of one solid mass remains unshaken by the         
wind, even so, neither forms, nor sounds, nor odors, nor tastes, nor        
contacts of any kind, neither the desired, nor the undesired, can           
cause such an one to waver. Steadfast is his mind, gained is                
deliverance.                                                                
  And he who has considered all the contrasts on this earth, and is no      
more disturbed by anything whatever in the world, the Peaceful One,         
freed from rage, from sorrow, and from longing, he has passed beyond        
birth and decay.                                                            
                                                                            
                            THE IMMUTABLE                                   
                                                                            
  There is a realm, where there is neither the solid, nor the fluid,        
neither heat, nor motion, neither this world, nor any other world,          
neither sun, nor moon. This I call neither arising, nor passing             
away, neither standing still nor being born, nor dying. There is            
neither foothold, nor development, nor any basis. This is the end of        
suffering.                                                                  
  There is an Unborn, Unoriginated, Uncreated, Unformed. If there were      
not this Unborn, this Unoriginated, this Uncreated, this Unformed,          
escape from the world of the born, the originated, the created, the         
formed, would not be possible.                                              
  But since there is an Unborn, Unoriginated, Uncreated, Unformed,          
therefore is escape possible from the world of the born, the                
originated, the created, the formed.                                        
                                                                            
                                                                            

                             FOURTH TRUTH                                   
                      THE NOBLE TRUTH OF THE PATH                           
               THAT LEADS TO THE EXTINCTION OF SUFFERING                    
                                                                            
                 THE TWO EXTREMES AND THE MIDDLE PATH                       
                                                                            
  TO GIVE oneself up to indulgence in sensual pleasure, the base,           
common, vulgar, unholy, unprofitable; and also to give oneself up to        
self-mortification, the painful, unholy, unprofitable: both these           
two extremes the Perfect One has avoided, and found out the Middle          
Path, which makes one both to see and to know, which leads to peace,        
to discernment, to enlightenment, to Nirvana.                               
                                                                            
                          THE EIGHTFOLD PATH                                
                                                                            
  It is the Noble Eightfold Path, the way that leads to the extinction      
of suffering, namely:                                                       
  1. Right Understanding, 2. Right Mindedness, which together are           
Wisdom.                                                                     
  3. Right Speech, 4. Right Action, 5. Right Living, which together         
are Morality.                                                               
  6. Right Effort, 7. Right Attentiveness, 8. Right Concentration,          
which together are Concentration.                                           
  This is the Middle Path which the Perfect One has found out, which        
makes one both to see and to know, which leads to peace, to                 
discernment, to enlightenment, to Nirvana.                                  
  Free from pain and torture is this path, free from groaning and           
suffering; it is the perfect path.                                          
  Truly, like this path there is no other path to the purity of             
insight. If you follow this path, you will put an end to suffering.         
  But each one has to struggle for himself, the Perfect Ones have only      
pointed out the way.                                                        
  Give ear then, for the Immortal is found. I reveal, I set forth           
the Truth. As I reveal it to you, so act! And that supreme goal of the      
holy life, for the sake of which, sons of good families rightly go          
forth from home to the homeless state: this you will, in no long time,      
in this very life, make known to yourself, realize, and make your own.      
                                                                            
                                                                            

                          THE EIGHTFOLD PATH                                
                                                                            
                              FIRST STEP                                    
                          RIGHT UNDERSTANDING                               
                                                                            
  WHAT, now, is Right Understanding? It is understanding the Four           
Truths. To understand suffering; to understand the origin of                
suffering; to understand the extinction of suffering; to understand         
the path that leads to the extinction of suffering: This is called          
Right Understanding.                                                        
  Or, when the noble disciple understands what is karmically                
wholesome, and the root of wholesome karma; what is karmically              
unwholesome, and the root of unwholesome karma, then he has Right           
Understanding.                                                              
                                                                            
  ["Karmically unwholesome" is every volitional act of body, speech,        
or mind which is rooted in greed, hatred, or delusion, and produces         
evil and painful results in this or any future form of existence.]          
                                                                            
  What, now, is "karmically unwholesome?"                                   
  In Bodily Action it is destruction of living beings; stealing; and        
unlawful sexual intercourse. In Verbal Action it is lying;                  
tale-bearing; harsh language; and frivolous talk. In Mental Action          
it is covetousness; ill-will; and wrong views.                              
  And what is the root of unwholesome karma? Greed is a root of             
unwholesome karma; Anger is a root of unwholesome karma; Delusion is a      
root of unwholesome karma.                                                  
                                                                            
  [The state of greed, as well as that of anger, is always accompanied      
by delusion; and delusion, ignorance, is the primary root of all            
evil.]                                                                      
                                                                            
  Therefore, I say, these demeritorious actions are of three kinds:         
either due to greed, or due to anger, or due to delusion.                   
  What, now, is "karmically wholesome?"                                     
  In Bodily Action it is to abstain from killing; to abstain from           
stealing; and to abstain from unlawful sexual intercourse.                  
  In Verbal Action it is to abstain from lying; to abstain from             
tale-bearing; to abstain from harsh language; and to abstain from           
frivolous talk.                                                             
  In Mental Action it is absence of covetousness; absence of ill-will;      
and right understanding.                                                    
  And what is the root of wholesome karma? Absence of greed                 
(unselfishness) is a root of wholesome karma; absence of anger              
(benevolence) is a root of wholesome karma; absence of delusion             
(wisdom) is a root of wholesome karma.                                      
  Or, when one understands that corporeality, feeling, perception,          
mental formation, and consciousness, are transient [subject to              
suffering, and without an Ego], also in that case one possesses Right       
Understanding.                                                              
                                                                            
                        UNPROFITABLE QUESTIONS                              
                                                                            
  Should anyone say that he does not wish to lead the holy life             
under the Blessed One, unless the Blessed One first tells him, whether      
the world is eternal or temporal, finite or infinite; whether the life      
principle is identical with the body, or something different;               
whether the Perfect One continues after death, and so on- such a man        
would die, ere the Perfect One could tell him all this.                     
  It is as if a man were pierced by a poisoned arrow, and his friends,      
companions, or near relations, should send for a surgeon; but that man      
should say: "I will not have this arrow pulled out, until I know who        
the man is that has wounded me: whether he is a noble, a priest, a          
citizen, or a servant"; or: "what his name is, and to what family he        
belongs"; or: "whether he is tall, or short, or of medium height."          
Verily, such a man would die, ere he could adequately learn all this.       
  Therefore, the man who seeks his own welfare, should pull out this        
arrow- this arrow of lamentation, pain, and sorrow.                         
  For, whether the theory exists, or whether it does not exist, that        
the world is eternal, or temporal, or finite, or infinite- certainly,       
there is birth, there is decay, there is death, sorrow, lamentation,        
pain, grief, and despair, the extinction of which, attainable even          
in this present life, I make known unto you.                                
  There is, for instance, an unlearned worldling, void of regard for        
holy men, ignorant of the teaching of holy men, untrained in the noble      
doctrine. And his heart is possessed and overcome by Self-Illusion, by      
Skepticism, by attachment to mere Rule and Ritual, by Sensual Lust,         
and by Ill-will; and how to free himself from these things, he does         
not really know.                                                            
                                                                            
  [Self-Illusion may reveal itself as "Eternalism" or                       
"Eternity-belief"- i.e., the belief that one's Ego is existing              
independently of the material body, and continuing even after the           
dissolution of the latter; or as "Annihilationism," or                      
"Annihilation-belief"- i.e., the materialistic belief that this             
present life constitutes the Ego, and hence that it is annihilated at       
the death of the material body.]                                            
                                                                            
  Not knowing what is worthy of consideration, and what is unworthy of      
consideration, he considers the unworthy, and not the worthy.               
  And unwisely he considers thus: "Have I been in the past? Or, have I      
not been in the past? What have I been in the past? How have I been in      
the past? From what state into what state did I change in the               
past?- Shall I be in the future? Or, shall I not be in the future?          
What shall I be in the future? How shall I be in the future? From what      
state into what state shall I change in the future?"- And the present       
also fills him with doubt: "Am I? Or, am I not? What am I? How am I?        
This being, whence has it come? Whither will it go?"                        
  And with such unwise considerations, he falls into one or other of        
the six views, and it becomes his conviction and firm belief: "I            
have an Ego"; or: "I have no Ego"; or: "With the Ego I perceive the         
Ego"; or: "With that which is no Ego, I perceive the Ego"; or: "With        
the Ego I perceive that which is no Ego." Or, he falls into the             
following view: "This my Ego, which can think and feel, and which, now      
here, now there, experiences the fruit of good and evil deeds; this my      
Ego is permanent, stable, eternal, not subject to change, and will          
thus eternally remain the same."                                            
  If there really existed the Ego, there would be also something which      
belonged to the Ego. As, however, in truth and reality, neither the         
Ego, nor anything belonging to the Ego, can be found, is it not             
therefore really an utter fool's doctrine to say: "This is the              
world, this am I; after death, I shall be permanent, persisting, and        
eternal?"                                                                   
  These are called mere views, a thicket of views, a puppet-show of         
views, a toil of views, a snare of views; and ensnared in the fetter        
of views, the ignorant worldling will not be freed from rebirth,            
from decay, and from death, from sorrow, pain, grief, and despair;          
he will not be freed, I say, from suffering.                                
                                                                            
                   THE SOTAPAN, OR "STREAM-ENTERER"                         
                                                                            
  The learned and noble disciple, however, who has regard for holy          
men, knows the teaching of holy men, is well trained in the noble           
doctrine, he understands what is worthy of consideration, and what          
is unworthy. And knowing this, he considers the worthy, and not the         
unworthy. What suffering is, he wisely considers. What the origin of        
suffering is, he wisely considers; what the extinction of suffering         
is, he wisely considers; what the path is that leads to the extinction      
of suffering, he wisely considers.                                          
  And by thus considering, three fetters vanish, namely:                    
Self-illusion, Skepticism, and Attachment to mere Rule and Ritual.          
  But those disciples in whom these three fetters have vanished have        
"entered the Stream," have forever escaped the states of woe, and           
are assured of final enlightenment.                                         
                                                                            
          More than any earthly power,                                      
          More than all the joys of heaven,                                 
          More than rule o'er all the world,                                
          Is the Entrance to the Stream.                                    
                                                                            
  And, verily, those who are filled with unshaken faith in me, all          
those have entered the stream.                                              
                                                                            
  [There are ten "Fetters" by which beings are bound to the wheel of        
existence. They are: Self-Illusion, Skepticism, Attachment to mere          
Rule and Ritual, Sensual Lust, Ill-will, Craving for the World of pure      
Form, Craving for the Formless World, Conceit, Restlessness,                
Ignorance.                                                                  
  A Sotapan, or "Stream-Enterer" i.e. "one who has entered the              
stream leading to Nirvana," is free from the first three fetters.           
  A Sakadagamin, or "Once-Returned"- namely to this sensuous sphere-        
has overcome the 4th and 5th fetters in their grosser form. An              
Anagamin, or "Non-Returner," is wholly freed from the first five            
fetters, which bind to rebirth in the sensuous sphere; after death,         
whilst living in the sphere of pure form, he will reach the goal. An        
Arahat, or perfectly "Holy One," is freed from all fetters.]                
                                                                            
                        THE TWO UNDERSTANDINGS                              
                                                                            
  Therefore, I say, Right Understanding is of two kinds:                    
  1. The view that alms and offerings are not useless; that there is        
fruit and result, both of good and bad actions; that there are such         
things as this life, and the next life; that father and mother as           
spontaneously born beings (in the heavenly worlds) are no mere words;       
that there are monks and priests who are spotless and perfect, who can      
explain this life and the next life, which they themselves have             
understood: this is called the "Mundane Right Understanding," which         
yields worldly fruits, and brings good results.                             
  2. But whatsoever there is of wisdom, of penetration, of right            
understanding, conjoined with the Path- the mind being turned away          
from the world, and conjoined with the path, the holy path being            
pursued;- this is called the "Ultramundane Right Understanding," which      
is not of the world, but is ultramundane, and conjoined with the Path.      
                                                                            
  [Thus, there are two kinds of the Eightfold Path: the "mundane,"          
practiced by the "worldling"; and the "ultra-mundane," practiced by         
the "Noble Ones."]                                                          
                                                                            
  Now, in understanding wrong understanding as wrong, and right             
understanding as right, one practices Right Understanding [1st step];       
and in making efforts to overcome wrong understanding, and to arouse        
right understanding, one practices Right Effort [6th step]; and in          
overcoming wrong understanding with attentive mind, and dwelling with       
attentive mind in the possession of right understanding, one practices      
Right Attentiveness [7th step]. Hence, there are three things that          
accompany and follow upon right understanding, namely: right                
understanding, right effort, and right attentiveness.                       
                                                                            
                         COMPLETE DELIVERANCE                               
                                                                            
  Now, if any one should put the question, whether I admit any view at      
all, he should be answered thus:                                            
  The Perfect One is free from any theory, for the Perfect One has          
understood what corporeality is, and how it arises, and passes away.        
He has understood what feeling is, and how it arises, and passes away.      
He has understood what perception is, and how it arises, and passes         
away. He has understood what the mental formations are, and how they        
arise, and pass away. He has understood what consciousness is, and how      
it arises, and passes away. Therefore, I say, the Perfect One has           
won complete deliverance through the extinction, fading-away,               
disappearance, rejection, and getting rid of all opinions and               
conjectures, of all inclination to the vainglory of "I" and "mine."         
  Whether Perfect Ones [Buddhas] appear in the world or whether             
Perfect Ones do not appear in the world, it still remains a firm            
condition, an immutable fact and fixed law: that all formations are         
"impermanent"; that all formations are "subject to suffering"; that         
everything is "without an Ego."                                             
                                                                            
  [The word sankhara (formations) comprises all things which have a         
beginning and an end, the so-called created, or "formed" things, i.e.,      
all possible physical and mental constituents of existence.]                
                                                                            
  A corporeal phenomenon, a feeling, a perception, a mental formation,      
a consciousness, that is permanent and persistent, eternal and not          
subject to change: such a thing the wise men in this world do not           
recognize; and I also say, there is no such thing.                          
  And it is impossible that a being possessed of Right Understanding        
should regard anything as the Ego.                                          
  Now, if someone should say that Feeling is his Ego, he should be          
answered thus: "There are three kinds of feeling: pleasurable,              
painful, and indifferent feeling. Which of these three feelings,            
now, do you consider your Ego?" At the moment namely of experiencing        
one of these feelings one does not experience the other two. These          
three kinds of feelings are impermanent, of dependent origin, are           
subject to decay and dissolution, to fading-away and extinction.            
Whosoever, in experiencing one of these feelings, thinks that this          
is his Ego, will, after the extinction of that feeling, admit that his      
Ego has become dissolved. And thus he will consider his Ego already in      
this present life as impermanent, mixed up with pleasure and pain,          
subject to rising and passing away.                                         
  If any one should say that Feeling is not his Ego, and that his           
Ego is inaccessible to feeling, he should be asked thus: "Now, where        
there is no feeling, is it there possible to say: 'This am I?'"             
  Or, someone might say: "Feeling, indeed, is not my Ego, but it            
also is untrue that my Ego is inaccessible to feeling; for it is my         
Ego that feels, for my Ego has the faculty of feeling." Such a one          
should be answered thus: "Suppose, feeling should become altogether         
totally extinguished; now, if there, after the extinction of                
feeling, no feeling whatever exists, it is then possible to say: 'This      
am I?'"                                                                     
  To say that the mind, or the mind-objects, or the                         
mind-consciousness, constitute the Ego; such an assertion is                
unfounded. For an arising and a passing away is seen there; and seeing      
this, one should come to the conclusion that one's Ego arises and           
passes away.                                                                
  It would be better for the unlearned worldling to regard this             
body, built up of the four elements, as his Ego, rather than the mind.      
For it is evident that this body may last for a year, for two years,        
for three years, four, five, or ten years, or even a hundred years and      
more; but that which is called thought, or mind, or consciousness,          
is continuously, during day and night, arising as one thing, and            
passing away as another thing.                                              
  Therefore, whatsoever there is of corporeality, of feeling, of            
perception, of mental formations, of consciousness, whether one's           
own or external, gross or subtle, lofty or low, far or near; there one      
should understand according to reality and true wisdom: "This does not      
belong to me; this am I not; this is not my Ego."                           
                                                                            
  [To show the Egolessness, utter emptiness of existence,                   
Visuddhi-Magga XVI quotes the following verse:                              
                                                                            
          Mere suffering exists, no sufferer is found;                      
          The deed is, but no doer of the deed is there;                    
          Nirvana is, but not the man that enters it;                       
          The Path is, but no traveler on it is seen.]                      
                                                                            
                      PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE                             
                                                                            
  If, now, any one should ask: "Have you been in the past, and is it        
untrue that you have not been? Will you be in the future, and is it         
untrue that you will not be? Are you, and is it untrue that you are         
not?"- you may say that you have been in the past, and it is untrue         
that you have not been; that you will be in the future, and it is           
untrue that you will not be; that you are, and it is untrue that you        
are not.                                                                    
  In the past only the past existence was real, but unreal the              
future and present existence. In the future only the future                 
existence will be real, but unreal the past and present existence. Now      
only the present existence is real, but unreal the past and future          
existence.                                                                  
  Verily, he who perceives the Dependent Origination, perceives the         
truth; and he who perceives the truth, perceives the dependent              
origination. For, just as from the cow comes milk, from milk curds,         
from curds butter, from butter ghee, from ghee the scum of ghee; and        
when it is milk, it is not counted as curds, or butter, or ghee, or         
scum of ghee, but only as milk; and when it is curds, it is only            
counted as curds- just so was my past existence at that time real,          
but unreal the future and present existence; and my future existence        
will be at one time real, but unreal the past and present existence;        
and my present existence is now real, but unreal the past and future        
existence. All these are merely popular designations and                    
expressions, mere conventional terms of speaking, mere popular              
notions. The Perfect One, indeed, makes use of these, without,              
however, clinging to them.                                                  
  Thus, he who does not understand corporeality, feeling,                   
perception, mental formations and consciousness according to reality        
[i.e., as void of a personality, or Ego], and not their arising,            
their extinction, and the way to their extinction, he is liable to          
believe, either that the Perfect One continues after death, or that he      
does not continue after death, and so forth.                                
  Verily, if one holds the view that the vital principle [Ego] is           
identical with this body, in that case a holy life is not possible;         
or, if one holds the view that the vital principle is something             
quite different from the body, in that case also a holy life is not         
possible. Both these two Extremes the Perfect One has avoided, and          
shown the Middle Doctrine, saying:                                          
                                                                            
                        DEPENDENT ORIGINATION                               
                                                                            
  On Delusion depend the Karma-Formations.- On the karma-formations         
depends Consciousness [starting with rebirth-consciousness in the           
womb of the mother].- On consciousness depends the Mental and Physical      
Existence.- On the mental and physical existence depend the Six             
Sense-Organs.- On the six sense-organs depends the Sensory                  
Impression.- On the sensory impression depends Feeling.- On feeling         
depends Craving.- On craving depends Clinging. On clinging depends the      
Process of Becoming.- On the process of becoming [here: karma-process]      
depends Rebirth.- On rebirth depend Decay and Death, sorrow,                
lamentation, pain, grief and despair. Thus arises this whole mass of        
suffering. This is called the noble truth of the origin of suffering.       
  In whom, however, Delusion has disappeared and wisdom arisen, such a      
disciple heaps up neither meritorious, nor demeritorious, nor               
imperturbable Karma-formations.                                             
  Thus, through the entire fading away and extinction of this               
Delusion, the Karma-Formations are extinguished. Through the                
extinction of the Karma-formations, Consciousness [rebirth] is              
extinguished. Through the extinction of consciousness, the Mental           
and Physical Existence is extinguished. Through the extinction of           
the mental and physical existence, the six Sense-Organs are                 
extinguished. Through the extinction of the six sense-organs, the           
Sensory Impression is extinguished. Through the extinction of the           
sensory impression, Feeling is extinguished. Through the extinction of      
feeling, Craving is extinguished. Through the extinction of craving,        
Clinging is extinguished. Through the extinction of clinging, the           
Process of Becoming is extinguished. Through the extinction of the          
process of becoming, Rebirth is extinguished. Through the extinction        
of rebirth, Decay and Death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief and           
despair are extinguished. Thus takes place the extinction of this           
whole mass of suffering. This is called the Noble Truth of the              
Extinction of Suffering.                                                    
                                                                            
                KARMA: REBIRTH - PRODUCING AND BARREN                       
                                                                            
  Verily, because beings, obstructed by Delusion, and ensnared by           
Craving, now here now there seek ever fresh delight, therefore such         
action comes to ever fresh Rebirth.                                         
  And the action that is done out of greed, anger and delusion, that        
springs from them, has its source and origin there: this action ripens      
wherever one is reborn; and wherever this action ripens, there one          
experiences the fruits of this action, be it in this life, or the next      
life, or in some future life.                                               
  However, through the fading away of delusion through the arising          
of wisdom, through the extinction of craving, no future rebirth             
takes place again.                                                          
  For the actions, which are not done out of greed, anger and               
delusion, which have not sprung from them, which have not their source      
and origin there- such actions are, through the absence of greed,           
anger and delusion, abandoned, rooted out, like a palm-tree torn out        
of the soil, destroyed, and not liable to spring up again.                  
  In this respect one may rightly say of me: that I teach                   
annihilation, that I propound my doctrine for the purpose of                
annihilation, and that I herein train my disciples; for, certainly,         
I do teach annihilation- the annihilation, namely, of greed, anger          
and delusion, as well as of the manifold evil and unwholesome things.       
                                                                            
  ["Dependent Origination" is the teaching of the strict conformity to      
law of everything that happens, whether in the realm of the                 
physical, or the psychical. It shows how the totality of phenomena,         
physical and mental, the entire phenomenal world that depends wholly        
upon the six senses, together with all its suffering- and this is the       
vital point of the teaching- is not the mere play of blind chance,          
but has an existence that is dependent upon conditions; and that,           
precisely with the removal of these conditions, those things that have      
arisen in dependence upon them- thus also all suffering- must perforce      
disappear and cease to be.]                                                 
                                                                            
                                                                            

                             SECOND STEP                                    
                           RIGHT MINDEDNESS                                 
                                                                            
  WHAT, now, is Right Mindedness? It is thoughts free from lust;            
thoughts free from ill-will; thoughts free from cruelty. This is            
called right mindedness.                                                    
  Now, Right Mindedness, let me tell you, is of two kinds: 1. Thoughts      
free from lust, from ill-will, and from cruelty:- this is called the        
"Mundane Right Mindedness," which yields worldly fruits and brings          
good results.                                                               
  2. But, whatsoever there is of thinking, considering, reasoning,          
thought, ratiocination, application- the mind being holy, being             
turned away from the world, and conjoined with the path, the holy path      
being pursued-: these "Verbal Operations" of the mind are called the        
"Ultramundane Right Mindedness," which is not of the world, but is          
ultra-mundane, and conjoined with the paths.                                
  Now, in understanding wrong-mindedness as wrong, and                      
right-mindedness as right, one practices Right Understanding [1st           
step]; and in making efforts to overcome evil-mindedness, and to            
arouse right-mindedness, one practices Right Effort [6th step];             
and in overcoming evil-mindedness with attentive mind, and dwelling         
with attentive mind in possession of right-mindedness, one practices        
Right Attentiveness [7th step]. Hence, there are three things that          
accompany and follow upon right-mindedness, namely: right                   
understanding, right effort, and right attentiveness.                       
                                                                            
                                                                            

                              THIRD STEP                                    
                             RIGHT SPEECH                                   
                                                                            
  WHAT, now, is Right Speech? It is abstaining from lying;                  
abstaining from tale-bearing; abstaining from harsh language;               
abstaining from vain talk.                                                  
  There, someone avoids lying, and abstains from it. He speaks the          
truth, is devoted to the truth, reliable, worthy of confidence, is not      
a deceiver of men. Being at a meeting, or amongst people, or in the         
midst of his relatives, or in a society, or in the king's court, and        
called upon and asked as witness, to tell what he knows, he answers,        
if he knows nothing: "I know nothing"; and if he knows, he answers: "I      
know"; if he has seen nothing, he answers: "I have seen nothing,"           
and if he has seen, he answers: "I have seen." Thus, he never               
knowingly speaks a lie, neither for the sake of his own advantage, nor      
for the sake of another person's advantage, nor for the sake of any         
advantage whatsoever.                                                       
  He avoids tale-bearing, and abstains from it. What he has heard           
here, he does not repeat there, so as to cause dissension there; and        
what he heard there, he does not repeat here, so as to cause                
dissension here. Thus he unites those that are divided; and those that      
are united, he encourages. Concord gladdens him, he delights and            
rejoices in concord, and it is concord that he spreads by his words.        
  He avoids harsh language, and abstains from it. He speaks such words      
as are gentle, soothing to the ear, loving, going to the heart,             
courteous and dear, and agreeable to many.                                  
                                                                            
  [In Majjhima-Nikaya, No. 21, the Buddha says: "Even, O monks, should      
robbers and murderers saw through your limbs and joints, whoso gave         
way to anger thereat, would not be following my advice. For thus ought      
you to train yourselves:                                                    
  "'Undisturbed shall our mind remain, no evil words shall escape           
our lips; friendly and full of sympathy shall we remain, with heart         
full of love, and free from any hidden malice; and that person shall        
we penetrate with loving thoughts, wide, deep, boundless, freed from        
anger and hatred.'"]                                                        
                                                                            
  He avoids vain talk, and abstains from it. He speaks at the right         
time, in accordance with facts, speaks what is useful, speaks about         
the law and the discipline; his speech is like a treasure, at the           
right moment accompanied by arguments, moderate and full of sense.          
  This is called right speech.                                              
  Now, right speech, let me tell you, is of two kinds: 1. Abstaining        
from lying, from tale-bearing, from harsh language, and from vain           
talk; this is called the "Mundane Right Speech," which yields worldly       
fruits and brings good results.                                             
  2. But the abhorrence of the practice of this four-fold wrong             
speech, the abstaining, withholding, refraining therefrom- the mind         
being holy, being turned away from the world, and conjoined with the        
path, the holy path being pursued-: this is called the "Ultramundane        
Right Speech," which is not of the world, but is ultramundane, and          
conjoined with the paths.                                                   
  Now, in understanding wrong speech as wrong, and right speech as          
right, one practices Right Understanding [1st step); and in making          
efforts to overcome evil speech and to arouse right speech, one             
practices Right Effort [6th step]; and in overcoming wrong speech           
with attentive mind, and dwelling with attentive mind in possession of      
right speech, one practices Right Attentiveness [7th step]. Hence,          
there are three things that accompany and follow upon right                 
attentiveness.                                                              
                                                                            
                                                                            

                             FOURTH STEP                                    
                             RIGHT ACTION                                   
                                                                            
  WHAT, now, is Right Action? It is abstaining from killing;                
abstaining from stealing; abstaining from unlawful sexual intercourse.      
  There, someone avoids the killing of living beings, and abstains          
from it. Without stick or sword, conscientious, full of sympathy, he        
is anxious for the welfare of all living beings.                            
  He avoids stealing, and abstains from it; what another person             
possesses of goods and chattels in the village or in the wood, that he      
does not take away with thievish intent.                                    
  He avoids unlawful sexual intercourse, and abstains from it. He           
has no intercourse with such persons as are still under the protection      
of father, mother, brother, sister or relatives, nor with married           
women, nor female convicts, nor, lastly, with betrothed girls.              
  This is called Right Action.                                              
  Now, Right Action, let me tell you, is of two kinds: 1. Abstaining        
from killing, from stealing, and from unlawful sexual intercourse-          
this is called the "Mundane Right Action," which yields worldly fruits      
and brings good results.                                                    
  2. But the abhorrence of the practice of this three-fold wrong            
action, the abstaining, withholding, refraining therefrom- the mind         
being holy, being turned away from the world, and conjoined with the        
path, the holy path being pursued-: this is called the "Ultramundane        
Right Action," which is not of the world, but is ultramundane, and          
conjoined with the paths.                                                   
  Now, in understanding wrong action as wrong, and right action as          
right, one practices Right Understanding [1st step]; and in making          
efforts to overcome wrong action, and to arouse right action, one           
practices Right Effort [6th step]; and in overcoming wrong action           
with attentive mind, and dwelling with attentive mind in possession of      
right action, one practices Right Attentiveness [7th step]. Hence,          
there are three things that accompany and follow upon right action,         
namely: right understanding, right effort, and right attentiveness.         
                                                                            
                                                                            

                              FIFTH STEP                                    
                             RIGHT LIVING                                   
                                                                            
  WHAT, now, is Right Living? When the noble disciple, avoiding a           
wrong way of living, gets his livelihood by a right way of living,          
this is called Right Living.                                                
  Now, right living, let me tell you, is of two kinds: 1. When the          
noble disciple, avoiding wrong living, gets his livelihood by a             
right way of living- this is called the "Mundane Right Living," which       
yields worldly fruits and brings good results.                              
  2. But the abhorrence of wrong living, the abstaining,                    
withholding, refraining therefrom- the mind being holy, being turned        
away from the world, and conjoined with the path, the holy path             
being pursued-: this is called the "Ultramundane Right Living,"             
which is not of the world, but is ultramundane, and conjoined with the      
paths.                                                                      
  Now, in understanding wrong living as wrong, and right living as          
right, one practices Right Understanding [1st step]; and in making          
efforts to overcome wrong living, to arouse right living, one               
practices Right Effort [6th step]; and in overcoming wrong living           
with attentive mind, and dwelling with attentive mind in possession of      
right living, one practices Right Attentiveness [7th step]. Hence,          
there are three things that accompany and follow upon right living,         
namely: right understanding, right effort, and right attentiveness.         
                                                                            
                                                                            

                              SIXTH STEP                                    
                             RIGHT EFFORT                                   
                                                                            
  WHAT, now, is Right Effort? There are Four Great Efforts: the effort      
to avoid, the effort to overcome, the effort to develop, and the            
effort to maintain.                                                         
  What, now, is the effort to avoid? There, the disciple incites his        
mind to avoid the arising of evil, demeritorious things that have           
not yet arisen; and he strives, puts forth his energy, strains his          
mind and struggles.                                                         
  Thus, when he perceives a form with the eye, a sound with the ear,        
an odor with the nose, a taste with the tongue, a contact with the          
body, or an object with the mind, he neither adheres to the whole, nor      
to its parts. And he strives to ward off that through which evil and        
demeritorious things, greed and sorrow, would arise, if he remained         
with unguarded senses; and he watches over his senses, restrains his        
senses.                                                                     
  Possessed of this noble "Control over the Senses," he experiences         
inwardly a feeling of joy, into which no evil thing can enter. This is      
called the effort to avoid.                                                 
  What, now, is the effort to Overcome? There, the disciple incites         
his mind to overcome the evil, demeritorious things that have               
already arisen; and he strives, puts forth his energy, strains his          
mind and struggles.                                                         
  He does not retain any thought of sensual lust, ill-will, or              
grief, or any other evil and demeritorious states that may have             
arisen; he abandons them, dispels them, destroys them, causes them          
to disappear.                                                               
                                                                            
               FIVE METHODS OF EXPELLING EVIL THOUGHTS                      
                                                                            
  If, whilst regarding a certain object, there arise in the                 
disciple, on account of it, evil and demeritorious thoughts                 
connected with greed, anger and delusion, then the disciple should, by      
means of this object, gain another and wholesome object. Or, he should      
reflect on the misery of these thoughts: "Unwholesome, truly, are           
these thoughts! Blameable are these thoughts! Of painful result are         
these thoughts!" Or, he should pay no attention to these thoughts. Or,      
he should consider the compound nature of these thoughts. Or, with          
teeth clenched and tongue pressed against the gums, he should, with         
his mind, restrain, suppress and root out these thoughts; and in doing      
so, these evil and demeritorious thoughts of greed, anger and delusion      
will dissolve and disappear; and the mind will inwardly become settled      
and calm, composed and concentrated.                                        
  This is called the effort to overcome.                                    
  What, now, is the effort to Develop? There the disciple incites           
his will to arouse meritorious conditions that have not yet arisen;         
and he strives, puts forth his energy, strains his mind and struggles.      
  Thus he develops the "Elements of Enlightenment," bent on                 
solitude, on detachment, on extinction, and ending in deliverance,          
namely: Attentiveness, Investigation of the Law, Energy, Rapture,           
Tranquility, Concentration, and Equanimity. This is called the              
effort to develop.                                                          
  What, now, is the effort to Maintain? There, the disciple incites         
his will to maintain the meritorious conditions that have already           
arisen, and not to let them disappear, but to bring them to growth, to      
maturity and to the full perfection of development; and he strives,         
puts forth his energy, strains his mind and struggles.                      
  Thus, for example, he keeps firmly in his mind a favorable object of      
concentration that has arisen, as the mental image of a skeleton, of a      
corpse infested by worms, of a corpse blue-black in color, of a             
festering corpse, of a corpse riddled with holes, of a corpse               
swollen up.                                                                 
  This is called the effort to maintain.                                    
  Truly, the disciple who is possessed of faith and has penetrated the      
Teaching of the Master, he is filled with the thought: "May rather          
skin, sinews and bones wither away, may the flesh and blood of my body      
dry up: I shall not give up my efforts so long as I have not                
attained whatever is attainable by manly perseverance, energy and           
endeavor!"                                                                  
  This is called right effort.                                              
                                                                            
          The effort of Avoiding, Overcoming,                               
          Of Developing and Maintaining:                                    
          These four great efforts have been shown                          
          By him, the scion of the sun.                                     
          And he who firmly clings to them,                                 
          May put an end to all the pain.                                   
                                                                            
                                                                            

                             SEVENTH STEP                                   
                          RIGHT ATTENTIVENESS                               
                                                                            
  WHAT, now, is Right Attentiveness? The only way that leads to the         
attainment of purity, to the overcoming of sorrow and lamentation,          
to the end of pain and grief, to the entering upon the right path           
and the realization of Nirvana, is the "Four Fundamentals of                
Attentiveness." And which are these four? In them, the disciple dwells      
in contemplation of the Body, in contemplation of Feeling, in               
contemplation of the Mind, in contemplation of the Mind-objects,            
ardent, clearly conscious and attentive, after putting away worldly         
greed and grief.                                                            
                                                                            
                      CONTEMPLATION OF THE BODY                             
                                                                            
  But, how does the disciple dwell in contemplation of the body?            
There, the disciple retires to the forest, to the foot of a tree, or        
to a solitary place, sits himself down, with legs crossed, body erect,      
and with attentiveness fixed before him.                                    
  With attentive mind he breathes in, with attentive mind he                
breathes out. When making a long inhalation, he knows: "I make a            
long inhalation"; when making a long exhalation, he knows: "I make a        
long exhalation." When making a short inhalation, he knows: "I make         
a short inhalation"; when making a short exhalation, he knows: "I make      
a short exhalation." "Clearly perceiving the entire [breath]-body, I        
will breathe in": thus he trains himself; "clearly perceiving the           
entire [breath]-body, I will breathe out": thus he trains himself.          
"Calming this bodily function, I will breathe in": thus he trains           
himself; "calming this bodily function, I will breathe out": thus he        
trains himself.                                                             
  Thus he dwells in contemplation of the body, either with regard to        
his own person, or to other persons, or to both. He beholds how the         
body arises; beholds how it passes away; beholds the arising and            
passing away of the body. "A body is there-                                 
                                                                            
    "A body is there, but no living being, no individual, no                
    woman, no man, no self, and nothing that belongs to a self;             
    neither a person, nor anything belonging to a person"-                  
                                                                            
  this clear consciousness is present in him, because of his knowledge      
and mindfulness, and he lives independent, unattached to anything in        
the world. Thus does the disciple dwell in contemplation of the body.       
  And further, whilst going, standing, sitting, or lying down, the          
disciple understands the expressions: "I go"; "I stand"; "I sit"; "I        
lie down"; he understands any position of the body.                         
                                                                            
  [The disciple understands that it is not a being, a real Ego, that        
goes, stands, etc., but that it is by a mere figure of speech that one      
says: "I go," "I stand," and so forth.]                                     
                                                                            
  And further, the disciple is clearly conscious in his going and           
coming; clearly conscious in looking forward and backward; clearly          
conscious in bending and stretching; clearly conscious in eating,           
drinking, chewing, and tasting; clearly conscious in discharging            
excrement and urine; clearly conscious in walking, standing,                
sitting, falling asleep and awakening; clearly conscious in speaking        
and in keeping silent.                                                      
                                                                            
    "In all the disciple is doing, he is clearly conscious: of his          
    intention, of his advantage, of his duty, of the reality."              
                                                                            
  And further, the disciple contemplates this body from the sole of         
the foot upward, and from the top of the hair downward, with a skin         
stretched over it, and filled with manifold impurities: "This body          
consists of hairs, nails, teeth, skin, flesh, sinews, bones, marrow,        
kidneys, heart, liver, diaphragm, spleen, lungs, intestines, bowels,        
stomach, and excrement; of bile, phlegm, pus, blood, sweat, lymph,          
tears, semen, spittle, nasal mucus, oil of the joints, and urine."          
  Just as if there were a sack, with openings at both ends, filled          
with all kinds of grain- with paddy, beans, sesamum and husked rice-        
and a man not blind opened it and examined its contents, thus: "That        
is paddy, these are beans, this is sesamum, this is husked rice": just      
so does the disciple investigate this body.                                 
  And further, the disciple contemplates this body with regard to           
the elements: "This body consists of the solid element, the liquid          
element, the heating element and the vibrating element." Just as a          
skilled butcher or butcher's apprentice, who has slaughtered a cow and      
divided it into separate portions, should sit down at the junction          
of four highroads: just so does the disciple contemplate this body          
with regard to the elements.                                                
  And further, just as if the disciple should see a corpse thrown into      
the burial-ground, one, two, or three days dead, swollen-up,                
blue-black in color, full of corruption- he draws the conclusion as to      
his own body: "This my body also has this nature, has this destiny,         
and cannot escape it."                                                      
  And further, just as if the disciple should see a corpse thrown into      
the burial-ground, eaten by crows, hawks or vultures, by dogs or            
jackals, or gnawed by all kinds of worms- he draws the conclusion as        
to his own body: "This my body also has this nature, has this destiny,      
and cannot escape it."                                                      
  And further, just as if the disciple should see a corpse thrown into      
the burial-ground, a framework of bones, flesh hanging from it,             
bespattered with blood, held together by the sinews; a framework of         
bones, stripped of flesh, bespattered with blood, held together by the      
sinews; a framework of bones, without flesh and blood, but still            
held together by the sinews; bones, disconnected and scattered in           
all directions, here a bone of the hand, there a bone of the foot,          
there a shin bone, there a thigh bone, there the pelvis, there the          
spine, there the skull- he draws the conclusion as to his own body:         
"This my body also has this nature, has this destiny, and cannot            
escape it."                                                                 
  And further, just as if the disciple should see bones lying in the        
burial ground, bleached and resembling shells; bones heaped                 
together, after the lapse of years; bones weathered and crumbled to         
dust;- he draws the conclusion as to his own body: "This my body also       
has this nature, has this destiny, and cannot escape it "                   
  Thus he dwells in contemplation of the body, either with regard to        
his own person, or to other persons, or to both. He beholds how the         
body arises; beholds how it passes away; beholds the arising and            
passing of the body. "A body is there": this clear consciousness is         
present in him, because of his knowledge and mindfulness; and he lives      
independent, unattached to anything in the world. Thus does the             
disciple dwell in contemplation of the body.                                
                                                                            
                          THE TEN BLESSINGS                                 
                                                                            
  Once the contemplation of the body is practiced, developed, often         
repeated, has become one's habit, one's foundation, is firmly               
established, strengthened and well perfected, one may expect ten            
blessings:                                                                  
  Over Delight and Discontent one has mastery; one does not allow           
himself to be overcome by discontent; one subdues it, as soon as it         
arises. One conquers Fear and Anxiety; one does not allow himself to        
be overcome by fear and anxiety; one subdues them, as soon as they          
arise. One endures cold and heat, hunger and thirst, wind and sun,          
attacks by gadflies, mosquitoes and reptiles; patiently one endures         
wicked and malicious speech, as well as bodily pains, that befall one,      
though they be piercing, sharp, bitter, unpleasant, disagreeable and        
dangerous to life. The four "Trances," the mind-purifying, bestowing        
happiness even here: these one may enjoy at will, without difficulty,       
without effort.                                                             
  One may enjoy the different "Magical Powers." With the "Heavenly          
Ear," the purified, the super-human, one may hear both kinds of             
sounds, the heavenly and the earthly, the distant and the near. With        
the mind one may obtain "Insight into the Hearts of Other Beings," of       
other persons. One may obtain "Remembrance of many Previous Births."        
With the "Heavenly Eye," the purified, the super-human, one may see         
beings vanish and reappear, the base and the noble, the beautiful           
and the ugly, the happy and the unfortunate; one may perceive how           
beings are reborn according to their deeds.                                 
  One may, through the "Cessation of Passions," come to know for            
oneself, even in this life, the stainless deliverance of mind, the          
deliverance through wisdom.                                                 
                                                                            
                    CONTEMPLATION OF THE FEELINGS                           
                                                                            
  But how does the disciple dwell in contemplation of the feelings?         
  In experiencing feelings, the disciple knows: "I have an agreeable        
feeling," or "I have a disagreeable feeling," or "I have an                 
indifferent feeling," or "I have a worldly agreeable feeling," or           
"I have an unworldly agreeable feeling," or "I have a worldly               
disagreeable feeling," or "I have an unworldly disagreeable                 
feeling," or "I have a worldly indifferent feeling," or "I have an          
unworldly indifferent feeling."                                             
  Thus he dwells in contemplation of the feelings, either with              
regard to his own person, or to other persons, or to both. He               
beholds how the feelings arise; beholds how they pass away; beholds         
the arising and passing away of the feelings. "Feelings are there":         
this clear consciousness is present in him, because of his knowledge        
and mindfulness; and he lives independent, unattached to anything in        
the world. Thus does the disciple dwell in contemplation of the             
feelings.                                                                   
                                                                            
  [The disciple understands that the expression "I feel" has no             
validity except as an expression of common speech; he understands           
that, in the absolute sense, there are only feelings, and that there        
is no Ego, no person, no experience of the feelings.]                       
                                                                            
                      CONTEMPLATION OF THE MIND                             
                                                                            
  But how does the disciple dwell in contemplation of the mind? The         
disciple knows the greedy mind as greedy, and the not greedy mind as        
not greedy; knows the angry mind as angry, and the not angry mind as        
not angry; knows the deluded mind as deluded, and the undeluded mind        
as undeluded. He knows the cramped mind as cramped, and the                 
scattered mind as scattered; knows the developed mind as developed,         
and the undeveloped mind as undeveloped; knows the surpassable mind as      
surpassable, and the unsurpassable mind as unsurpassable; knows the         
concentrated mind as concentrated, and the unconcentrated mind as           
unconcentrated; knows the freed mind as freed, and the unfreed mind as      
unfreed.                                                                    
                                                                            
  ["Mind" is here used as a collective for the moments of                   
consciousness. Being identical with consciousness, it should not be         
translated by "thought." "Thought" and "thinking" correspond rather to      
the so-called "verbal operations of the mind"; they are not, like           
consciousness, of primary, but of secondary nature, and are entirely        
absent in all sensuous consciousness, as well as in the second,             
third and fourth Trances. (See eighth step).]                               
                                                                            
  Thus he dwells in contemplation of the mind, either with regard to        
his own person, or to other persons, or to both. He beholds how             
consciousness arises; beholds how it passes away; beholds the               
arising and passing away of consciousness. "Mind is there"; this clear      
consciousness is present in him, because of his knowledge and               
mindfulness; and he lives independent, unattached to anything in the        
world. Thus does the disciple dwell in contemplation of the mind.           
                                                                            
              CONTEMPLATION OF PHENOMENA (Mind-objects)                     
                                                                            
  But how does the disciple dwell in contemplation of the phenomena?        
First, the disciple dwells in contemplation of the phenomen, of the         
"Five Hindrances."                                                          
  He knows when there is "Lust" in him: "In me is lust"; knows when         
there is "Anger" in him: "In me is anger"; knows when there is "Torpor      
and Drowsiness" in him: "In me is torpor and drowsiness"; knows when        
there is "Restlessness and Mental Worry" in him: "In me is                  
restlessness and mental worry"; knows when there are "Doubts" in            
him: "In me are doubts." He knows when these hindrances are not in          
him: "In me these hindrances are not." He knows how they come to            
arise; knows how, once arisen, they are overcome; knows how, once           
overcome, they do not rise again in the future.                             
                                                                            
  [For example, Lust arises through unwise thinking on the agreeable        
and delightful. It may be suppressed by the following six methods:          
fixing the mind upon an idea that arouses disgust; contemplation of         
the loathsomeness of the body; controlling one's six senses;                
moderation in eating; friendship with wise and good men; right              
instruction. Lust is forever extinguished upon entrance into                
Anagamiship; Restlessness is extinguished by reaching Arahatship;           
Mental Worry, by reaching Sotapanship.]                                     
                                                                            
  And further: the disciple dwells in contemplation of the                  
phenomena, of the five Groups of Existence. He knows what Corporeality      
is, how it arises, how it passes away; knows what Feeling is, how it        
arises, how it passes away; knows what Perception is, how it arises,        
how it passes away; knows what the Mental Formations are, how they          
arise, how they pass away; knows what Consciousness is, how it arises,      
how it passes away.                                                         
  And further: the disciple dwells in contemplation of the phenomena        
of the six Subjective-Objective Sense-Bases. He knows eye and visual        
objects, ear and sounds, nose and odors, tongue and tastes, body and        
touches, mind and mind-objects; and the fetter that arises in               
dependence on them, he also knows. He knows how the fetter comes to         
arise, knows how the fetter is overcome, and how the abandoned              
fetter does not rise again in future.                                       
  And further: the disciple dwells in contemplation of the phenomena        
of the seven Elements of Enlightenment. The disciple knows when             
there is Attentiveness in him; when there is Investigation of the           
Law in him; when there is Energy in him; when there is Enthusiasm in        
him; when there is Tranquility in him; when there is Concentration          
in him; when there is Equanimity in him. He knows when it is not in         
him, knows how it comes to arise, and how it is fully developed.            
  And further: the disciple dwells in contemplation of the phenomena        
of the Four Noble Truths. He knows according to reality, what               
Suffering is; knows according to reality, what the Origin of Suffering      
is; knows according to reality, what the Extinction of Suffering is;        
knows according to reality, what the Path is that leads to the              
Extinction of Suffering.                                                    
  Thus he dwells in contemplation of the phenomena, either with regard      
to his own person, or to other persons, or to both. He beholds how the      
phenomena arise; beholds how they pass away; beholds the arising and        
passing away of the phenomena. "Phenomena are there": this clear            
consciousness is present in him, because of his knowledge and               
mindfulness; and he lives independent, unattached to anything in the        
world. Thus does the disciple dwell in contemplation of the phenomena.      
  The only way that leads to the attainment of purity, to the               
overcoming of sorrow and lamentation, to the end of pain and grief, to      
the entering upon the right path, and the realization of Nirvana, is        
these four fundamentals of attentiveness.                                   
                                                                            
               NIRVANA THROUGH WATCHING OVER BREATHING                      
                                                                            
  "Watching over In- and Out-breathing" practiced and developed,            
brings the four Fundamentals of Attentiveness to perfection; the four       
fundamentals of attentiveness, practiced and developed, bring the           
seven Elements of Enlightenment to perfection; the seven elements of        
enlightenment, practiced and developed, bring Wisdom and Deliverance        
to perfection.                                                              
  But how does Watching over In- and Out-breathing, practiced and           
developed, bring the four Fundamentals of Attentiveness to perfection?      
  I. Whenever the disciple is conscious in making a long inhalation or      
exhalation, or in making a short inhalation or exhalation, or is            
training himself to inhale or exhale whilst feeling the whole               
[breath]-body, or whilst calming down this bodily function- at such         
a time the disciple is dwelling in "contemplation of the body," full        
of energy, clearly conscious, attentive, after subduing worldly greed       
and grief. For, inhalation and exhalation I call one amongst the            
corporeal phenomena.                                                        
  II. Whenever the disciple is training himself to inhale or exhale         
whilst feeling rapture, or joy, or the mental functions, or whilst          
calming down the mental functions- at such a time he is dwelling in         
"contemplation of the feelings," full of energy, clearly conscious,         
attentive, after subduing worldly greed and grief. For, the full            
awareness of in- and out-breathing I call one amongst the feelings.         
  III. Whenever the disciple is training himself to inhale or exhale        
whilst feeling the mind, or whilst gladdening the mind, or whilst           
concentrating the mind, or whilst setting the mind free- at such a          
time he is dwelling in "contemplation of the mind," full of energy,         
clearly conscious, attentive, after subduing worldly greed and grief.       
For, without attentiveness and clear consciousness, I say, there is no      
Watching over in-and Out-breathing.                                         
  IV. Whenever the disciple is training himself to inhale or exhale         
whilst contemplating impermanence, or the fading away of passion, or        
extinction, or detachment- at such a time he is dwelling in                 
"contemplation of the phenomena," full of energy, clearly conscious,        
attentive, after subduing worldly greed and grief.                          
  Watching over In-and Out-breathing, thus practiced and developed,         
brings the four Fundamentals of Attentiveness to perfection.                
  But how do the four Fundamentals of Attentiveness, practiced and          
developed, bring the seven Elements of Enlightenment to full                
perfection?                                                                 
  Whenever the disciple is dwelling in contemplation of body, feeling,      
mind and phenomena, strenuous, clearly conscious, attentive, after          
subduing worldly greed and grief- at such a time his attentiveness is       
undisturbed; and whenever his attentiveness is present and                  
undisturbed, at such a time he has gained and is developing the             
Element of Enlightenment "Attentiveness"; and thus this element of          
enlightenment reaches fullest perfection.                                   
  And whenever, whilst dwelling with attentive mind, he wisely              
investigates, examines and thinks over the Law- at such a time he has       
gained and is developing the Element of Enlightenment "Investigation        
of the Law"; and thus this element of enlightenment reaches fullest         
perfection.                                                                 
  And whenever, whilst wisely investigating, examining and thinking         
over the law, his energy is firm and unshaken- at such a time he has        
gained and is developing the Element of Enlightenment "Energy"; and         
thus this element of enlightenment reaches fullest perfection.              
  And whenever in him, whilst firm in energy, arises super-sensuous         
rapture- at such a time he has gained and is developing the Element         
of Enlightenment "Rapture"; and thus this element of enlightenment          
reaches fullest perfection.                                                 
  And whenever, whilst enraptured in mind, his spiritual frame and his      
mind become tranquil- at such a time he has gained and is developing        
the Element of Enlightenment "Tranquility"; and thus this element of        
enlightenment reaches fullest perfection.                                   
  And whenever, whilst being tranquilized in his spiritual frame and        
happy, his mind becomes concentrated- at such a time he has gained          
and is developing the Element of Enlightenment "Concentration"; and         
thus this element of enlightenment reaches fullest perfection.              
  And whenever he thoroughly looks with indifference on his mind            
thus concentrated- at such a time he has gained and is developing the       
Element of Enlightenment "Equanimity."                                      
  The four fundamentals of attentiveness, thus practiced and                
developed, bring the seven elements of enlightenment to full                
perfection.                                                                 
  But how do the seven elements of enlightenment, practiced and             
developed, bring Wisdom and Deliverance to full perfection?                 
  There, the disciple is developing the elements of enlightenment:          
Attentiveness, Investigation of the Law, Energy, Rapture, Tranquility,      
Concentration and Equanimity, bent on detachment, on absence of             
desire, on extinction and renunciation.                                     
  Thus practiced and developed, do the seven elements of enlightenment      
bring wisdom and deliverance to full perfection.                            
  Just as the elephant hunter drives a huge stake into the ground           
and chains the wild elephant to it by the neck, in order to drive           
out of him his wonted forest ways and wishes, his forest unruliness,        
obstinacy and violence, and to accustom him to the environment of           
the village, and to teach him such good behavior as is required             
amongst men: in like manner also has the noble disciple to fix his          
mind firmly to these four fundamentals of attentiveness, so that he         
may drive out of himself his wonted worldly ways and wishes, his            
wonted worldly unruliness, obstinacy and violence, and win to the           
True, and realize Nirvana.                                                  
                                                                            
                                                                            

                             EIGHTH STEP                                    
                         RIGHT CONCENTRATION                                
                                                                            
  WHAT, now, is Right Concentration? Fixing the mind to a single            
object ("One-pointedness of mind"): this is concentration.                  
  The four Fundamentals of Attentiveness (seventh step): these are          
the objects of concentration.                                               
  The four Great Efforts (sixth step): these are the requisites for         
concentration.                                                              
  The practicing, developing and cultivating of these things: this          
is the "Development" of concentration.                                      
                                                                            
  [Right Concentration has two degrees of development: 1.                   
"Neighborhood-Concentration," which approaches the first trance,            
without however attaining it; 2. "Attainment Concentration," which          
is the concentration present in the four trances. The attainment of         
the trances, however, is not a requisite for the realization of the         
Four Ultramundane Paths of Holiness; and neither                            
Neighborhood-Concentration nor Attainment-Concentration, as such, in        
any way possesses the power of conferring entry into the Four               
Ultramundane Paths; hence, in them is really no power to free               
oneself permanently from evil things. The realization of the Four           
Ultramundane Paths is possible only at the moment of insight into           
the impermanency, miserable nature, and impersonality of phenomenal         
process of existence. This insight is attainable only during                
Neighborhood-Concentration, not during Attainment-Concentration.            
  He who has realized one or other of the Four Ultramundane Paths           
without ever having attained the Trances, is called a "Dry-visioned         
One," or one whose passions are "dried up by Insight." He, however,         
who after cultivating the Trances has reached one of the                    
Ultramundane Paths, is called "one who has taken tranquility as his         
vehicle."]                                                                  
                                                                            
                           THE FOUR TRANCES                                 
                                                                            
  Detached from sensual objects, detached from unwholesome things, the      
disciple enters into the first trance, which is accompanied by "Verbal      
Thought," and "Rumination," is born of "Detachment," and filled with        
"Rapture," and "Happiness."                                                 
  This first trance is free from five things, and five things are           
present. When the disciple enters the first trance, there have              
vanished [the 5 Hindrances]: Lust, Ill-will, Torpor and Dullness,           
Restlessness and Mental Worry, Doubts; and there are present: Verbal        
Thought, Rumination, Rapture, Happiness, and Concentration.                 
  And further: after the subsiding of verbal thought and rumination,        
and by the gaining of inward tranquility and oneness of mind, he            
enters into a state free from verbal thought and rumination, the            
second trance, which is born of Concentration, and filled with Rapture      
and Happiness.                                                              
  And further: after the fading away of rapture, he dwells in               
equanimity, attentive, clearly conscious; and he experiences in his         
person that feeling, of which the Noble Ones say: "Happy lives the man      
of equanimity and attentive mind"- thus he enters the third trance.         
  And further: after the giving up of pleasure and pain, and through        
the disappearance of previous joy and grief, he enters into a state         
beyond pleasure and pain, into the fourth trance, which is purified by      
equanimity and attentiveness.                                               
                                                                            
  [The four Trances may be obtained by means of Watching over In- and       
Out-breathing, as well as through the fourth sublime meditation, the        
"Meditation of Equanimity," and others.                                     
    The three other Sublime Meditations of "Loving Kindness,"               
"Compassion", and "Sympathetic Joy" may lead to the attainment of           
the first three Trances. The "Cemetery Meditations," as well as the         
meditation "On Loathsomeness," will produce only the First Trance.          
  The "Analysis of the Body," and the Contemplation on the Buddha, the      
Law, the Holy Brotherhood, Morality, etc., will only produce                
Neighborhood-Concentration.]                                                
                                                                            
  Develop your concentration: for he who has concentration understands      
things according to their reality. And what are these things? The           
arising and passing away of corporeality, of feeling, perception,           
mental formations and consciousness.                                        
  Thus, these five Groups of Existence must be wisely penetrated;           
Delusion and Craving must be wisely abandoned; Tranquility and Insight      
must be wisely developed.                                                   
  This is the Middle Path which the Perfect One has discovered,             
which makes one both to see and to know, and which leads to peace,          
to discernment, to enlightenment, to Nirvana. And following upon this path, 
you will put an end to suffering.                                           
                                                                            
                                                                            

          DEVELOPMENT OF THE EIGHTFOLD PATH IN THE DISCIPLE                 
                                                                            
             CONFIDENCE AND RIGHT-MINDEDNESS (2nd Step)                     
                                                                            
  SUPPOSE a householder, or his son, or someone reborn in any               
family, hears the law; and after hearing the law he is filled with          
confidence in the Perfect One. And filled with this confidence, he          
thinks: "Full of hindrances is household life, a refuse heap; but           
pilgrim life is like the open air. Not easy is it, when one lives at        
home, to fulfill in all points the rules of the holy life. How, if now      
I were to cut off hair and beard, put on the yellow robe and go             
forth from home to the homeless life?" And in a short time, having          
given up his more or less extensive possessions, having forsaken a          
smaller or larger circle of relations, he cuts off hair and beard,          
puts on the yellow robe, and goes forth from home to the homeless           
life.                                                                       
                                                                            
                     MORALITY (3rd, 4th, 5th Step)                          
                                                                            
  Having thus left the world, he fulfills the rules of the monks. He        
avoids the killing of living beings and abstains from it. Without           
stick or sword, conscientious, full of sympathy, he is anxious for the      
welfare of all living beings.- He avoids stealing, and abstains from        
taking what is not given to him. Only what is given to him he takes,        
waiting till it is given; and he lives with a heart honest and              
pure.- He avoids unchastity, living chaste, resigned, and keeping           
aloof from sexual intercourse, the vulgar way.- He avoids lying and         
abstains from it. He speaks the truth, is devoted to the truth,             
reliable, worthy of confidence, is not a deceiver of men.- He avoids        
tale-bearing and abstains from it. What he has heard here, he does not      
repeat there, so as to cause dissension there; and what he has heard        
there, he does not repeat here, so as to cause dissension here. Thus        
he unites those that are divided, and those that are united he              
encourages; concord gladdens him, he delights and rejoices in concord,      
and it is concord that he spreads by his words.- He avoids harsh            
language and abstains from it. He speaks such words as are gentle,          
soothing to the ear, loving, going to the heart, courteous and dear,        
and agreeable to many.- He avoids vain talk and abstains from it. He        
speaks at the right time, in accordance with facts, speaks what is          
useful, speaks about the law and the disciple; his speech is like a         
treasure, at the right moment accompanied by arguments, moderate,           
and full of sense.                                                          
  He keeps aloof from dance, song, music and the visiting of shows;         
rejects flowers, perfumes, ointments, as well as every kind of              
adornment and embellishment. High and gorgeous beds he does not use.        
Gold and silver he does not accept. Raw corn and meat he does not           
accept. Women and girls he does not accept. He owns no male and female      
slaves, owns no goats, sheep, fowls, pigs, elephants, cows or               
horses, no land and goods. He does not go on errands and do the duties      
of a messenger. He keeps aloof from buying and selling things. He           
has nothing to do with false measures, metals and weights. He avoids        
the crooked ways of bribery, deception and fraud. He keeps aloof            
from stabbing, beating, chaining, attacking, plundering and                 
oppressing.                                                                 
  He contents himself with the robe that protects his body, and with        
the alms with which he keeps himself alive. Wherever he goes, he is         
provided with these two things; just as a winged bird, in flying,           
carries his wings along with him. By fulfilling this noble Domain of        
Morality he feels in his heart an irreproachable happiness.                 
                                                                            
                   CONTROL OF THE SENSES (6th Step)                         
                                                                            
  Now, in perceiving a form with the eye- a sound with the ear- an          
odor with the nose- a taste with the tongue- a touch with the body- an      
object with his mind, he sticks neither to the whole, nor to its            
details. And he tries to ward off that which, by being unguarded in         
his senses, might give rise to evil and unwholesome states, to greed        
and sorrow; he watches over his senses, keep his senses under control.      
By practicing this noble "Control of the Senses" he feels in his heart      
an unblemished happiness.                                                   
                                                                            
          ATTENTIVENESS AND CLEAR CONSCIOUSNESS (7th Step)                  
                                                                            
  Clearly conscious is he in his going and coming; clearly conscious        
in looking forward and backward; clearly conscious in bending and           
stretching his body; clearly conscious in eating, drinking, chewing         
and tasting; clearly conscious in discharging excrement and urine;          
clearly conscious in walking, standing, sitting, falling asleep and         
awakening; clearly conscious in speaking and keeping silent.                
  Now, being equipped with this lofty Morality, equipped with this          
noble Control of the Senses, and filled with this noble "Attentiveness      
and Clear Consciousness," he chooses a secluded dwelling in the             
forest, at the foot of a tree, on a mountain, in a cleft, in a rock         
cave, on a burial ground, on a woody table-land, in the open air, or        
on a heap of straw. Having returned from his alms-round, after the          
meal, he sits himself down with legs crossed, body erect, with              
attentiveness fixed before him.                                             
                                                                            
                    ABSENCE OF THE FIVE HINDRANCES                          
                                                                            
  He has cast away Lust; he dwells with a heart free from lust; from        
lust he cleanses his heart.                                                 
  He has cast away Ill-will; he dwells with a heart free from               
ill-will; cherishing love and compassion toward all living beings,          
he cleanses his heart from ill-will.                                        
  He has cast away Torpor and Dullness; he dwells free from torpor and      
dullness; loving the light, with watchful mind, with clear                  
consciousness, he cleanses his mind from torpor and dullness.               
  He has cast away Restlessness and Mental Worry; dwelling with mind        
undisturbed, with heart full of peace, he cleanses his mind from            
restlessness and mental worry.                                              
  He has cast away Doubt; dwelling free from doubt, full of confidence      
in the good, he cleanses his heart from doubt.                              
                                                                            
                        THE TRANCES (8th Step)                              
                                                                            
  He has put aside these five Hindrances and come to know the               
paralyzing corruptions of the mind. And far from sensual                    
impressions, far from unwholesome things, he enters into the Four           
Trances.                                                                    
                                                                            
                          INSIGHT (1st Step)                                
                                                                            
  But whatsoever there is of feeling, perception, mental formation, or      
consciousness- all these phenomena he regards as "impermanent,"             
"subject to pain," as infirm, as an ulcer, a thorn, a misery, a             
burden, an enemy, a disturbance, as empty and "void of an Ego"; and         
turning away from these things, he directs his mind towards the             
abiding, thus: "This, verily, is the Peace, this is the Highest,            
namely the end of all formations, the forsaking of every substratum of      
rebirth, the fading away of craving; detachment, extinction: Nirvana."      
And in this state he reaches the "Cessation of Passions."                   
                                                                            
                               NIRVANA                                      
                                                                            
  And his heart becomes free from sensual passion, free from the            
passion for existence, free from the passion of ignorance. "Freed am        
I!": this knowledge arises in the liberated one; and he knows:              
"Exhausted is rebirth, fulfilled the Holy Life; what was to be done,        
has been done; naught remains more for this world to do."                   
                                                                            
                 Forever am I liberated,                                    
                 This is the last time that I'm born,                       
                 No new existence waits for me.                             
                                                                            
  This, verily, is the highest, holiest wisdom: to know that all            
suffering has passed away.                                                  
  This, verily, is the highest, holiest peace: appeasement of greed,        
hatred and delusion.                                                        
                                                                            
                          THE SILENT THINKER                                
                                                                            
  "I am" is a vain thought; "I am not" is a vain thought; "I shall be"      
is a vain thought; "I shall not be" is a vain thought. Vain thoughts        
are a sickness, an ulcer, a thorn. But after overcoming all vain            
thoughts, one is called "a silent thinker." And the thinker, the            
Silent One, does no more arise, no more pass away, no more tremble, no      
more desire. For there is nothing in him that he should arise again.        
And as he arises no more, how should he grow old again? And as he           
grows no more old, how should he die again? And as he dies no more,         
how should he tremble? And as he trembles no more, how should he have       
desire?                                                                     
                                                                            
                            THE TRUE GOAL                                   
                                                                            
  Hence, the purpose of the Holy Life does not consist in acquiring         
alms, honor, or fame, nor in gaining morality, concentration, or the        
eye of knowledge. That unshakable deliverance of the heart: that,           
verily, is the object of the Holy Life, that is its essence, that is        
its goal.                                                                   
  And those, who formerly, in the past, were Holy and Enlightened           
Ones, those Blessed Ones also have pointed out to their disciples this      
self-same goal, as has been pointed out by me to my disciples. And          
those, who afterwards, in the future, will be Holy and Enlightened          
Ones, those Blessed Ones also will point out to their disciples this        
self-same goal, as has been pointed out by me to my disciples.              
  However, Disciples, it may be that (after my passing away) you might      
think: "Gone is the doctrine of our Master. We have no Master more."        
But you should not think; for the Law and the Discipline, which I have      
taught you, will, after my death, be your master.                           
                                                                            
                  The Law be your light,                                    
                  The Law be your refuge!                                   
                  Do not look for any other refuge!                         
                                                                            
  Therefore, Disciples, the doctrines, which I advised you to               
penetrate, you should well preserve, well guard, so that this Holy          
Life may take its course and continue for ages, for the weal and            
welfare of the many, as a consolation to the world, for the happiness, weal 
and welfare of heavenly beings and men.                                     
                                                                            
                                                                            
                      THE END OF Budda, The Word                            
                                                                            
   