07 04
2012 SATURDAY LESSON 574 FREE ONLINE
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by ABHIDHAMMA RAKKHITA through http://sarvajan.ambedkar.org
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Dhammapada: Verses |
Dhammapada Verse 127 Shelter Against Death
Verse
127. Shelter Against Death
Neither in sky nor surrounding by sea,
nor by dwelling in a mountain cave,
nowhere is found that place in earth
where one’s from evil kamma free.
Explanation: There is not a single spot on Earth an evil-doer
can take shelter in to escape the results of evil actions. No such place is
seen out there in space, or in the middle of the ocean. Neither in an opening,
a cleft or a crevice in a rocky mountain can he shelter to escape the results
of his evil action.
07 04 2012 SATURDAY
LESSON 573WISDOM IS POWER
II.
ARHAT
FOUR HOLY TRUTHS
EIGHTFOLD PATH
TWELVEFOLD CONDITIONED
ARISING
BODHISATTVA
PARAMITA
SIX PARAMITAS
TWELVEFOLD CONDITIONED
ARISING
TWELVEFOLD
CONDITIONED ARISING
Twelvefold Conditioned
Arising
1) Ignorance,
2) Karmic
Formation (Actions, Impulses), 3) Consciousness,
4) Name
and Form,
5) Six Involvements (Six Senses), 6) Contact (with Six
Sense Objects), 7) Feeling
(Sensation), 
Craving, 9) Grasping, 10) Existence, 11) Birth,
12) Old Age and Death.
“…ignorance. Where does it come from? What
is its beginning? It cannot be classified as either conditioned or
unconditioned but falls between the two. …ignorance leads to karmic
activity.
“Karmic activity is a conditioned dharma, and when it
appears, consciousness, which makes distinctions about the
manifestations of activity, arises. With the making of distinctions the trouble
starts.
“Name and form are the trouble. Just
mentioning them is asking for trouble, because you’re bound to say, ‘How are
name and form troublesome? I don’t understand.’ Before I said anything, you did
not have any problem of not understanding, but once I referred to name and form
as trouble, the problem of your not understanding arose and with it the desire
to know.
“This quest for knowledge results in the use of the six
organs, the faculties through which you attempt to achieve understanding.
You decide you want to know, and suddenly a visual consciousness appears as do
the consciousnesses of the ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind. You think you
can gain understanding through the six organs without realizing that the more
you ‘understand’ the more confused you become, and the more confused you are,
the less you understand.
“Since you do not understand, you tend toward further
involvement, which takes the form of contact. You constantly seek
encounters, east, west, north, south, above, and below, like a fly madly
bouncing off walls. All that results from this desperate attempt to understand
is a lot of bruises from all the bumps.
“After the determination to understand sets in and
the encounters occur, there is feeling. ‘Ouch! It hurts!’ you exclaim
when you are bumping into things, and ‘Boy do I feel good!’ when you are not. ‘
If no one bothers me I’m fine, but I can’t stand criticism.’ This is where
feeling lies. Don’t look for it anywhere else.
“Once there is feeling, love arises. With love
comes hate. You like to get involved in pleasant situations, but you detest
painful circumstances. Happiness and unhappiness come from love, and every day
the trouble grows.
“Wishing to prolong your contact with the objects of
love, you indulge in grasping. The reason you clutch at objects of love
is that you wish to become one with them. You want them to be inseparable from
you, and this grasping leads to becoming.
“Your attempt to have them for your own results in
further births, which lead to old age and death. This is the
Twelve-fold Conditioned Arising.” (TD 31)
And what, brethren, is old age-and-death?
That which, of this and that being, in this and that
group, is decay, decrepitude, breaking up, hoariness, wrinkling of the skin,
shrinkage of a life-span, over-ripeness of faculties: this is called old age.
That which , of this and that being from this or that group, is falling or
decease, separation, disappearance, mortality or dying, accomplishment of time:
separation of component factors, laying down of the carcass: this is called
death. Thus it is this decay and this dying that is called old age-and-death.
And what, brethren, is birth?
That which, of this and that being in this and that group,
is birth, continuous birth, descent, reproduction, appearance of component
factors, acquiring of sense-spheres. This is called birth.
And what, brethren, is becoming?
Three are these becomings: becoming in Kama (i.e.,
desire)-[worlds], becoming in Rupa (i.e., form)-[worlds], becoming in
Arupa(i.e., formless)-[worlds] (see Four
Formless Realm Heavens). This is called becoming.
And what, brethren, is grasping?
There are these four graspings: grasping of desires,
grasping of opinion, grasping of rule and ritual, grasping of soul theory. This
is called grasping.
And what, brethren, is craving (trishna - see Love)?
There are these six groups of craving: craving for things
seen, for things heard, for odours, for tastes, for things tangible, for ideas.
This is called craving.
And what, brethren, is feeling?
There are these six groups of feeling: feeling that is
born of eye-contact, feeling that is born of ear-contact, feeling that is born
of nose-contact, feeling that is born of tongue contact, feeling that is born
of body-contact, feeling that is born of mind-contact. This is called feeling.
And what, brethren, is contact?
There are these six groups of contact: eye-contact, ear-,
nose-, tongue-, body-, mind-contact. This is called contact.
And what, brethren, is six-fold sense?
The sense of eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind. This is
called sixfold sense.
And what, brethren, is name-and-shape.
Feeling, perception, will, contact, work of mind. This is
called name. The four great elements and the shape derived from them. This is
called shape. This is the name, this is the shape called name-and-shape.
1. Ignorance (Avidya),
2. Karmic Formation (Samskara),
3. Consciousness (Vijnana),
4. Name (Nama) and Form (Rupa) - Thinking Aggregate (Samjna
Skandha) and Body (Rupa Skandha),
5. Six Involvements (Six Senses - Shad Ayatana)
of Eyes (Chakshur), Ears (Srota), Nose
(Nasa), Tongue (Jihva), Body (Kaya), Mind (Mano),
6. Contact (Sparsha)
7. Feeling (Vedana
- Sensation),
8. Craving (Trishna)
9. Grasping (Upadana)
10. Becoming - Existence (Bhava)
11. Birth (Jati)
12. Old Age (Sickness) and Death (Jara [Roga] Maranam).
And what is consciousness?
There are six groups of consciousness:–eye-consciousness,
ear-consciousness, smell-, taste-, touch-, and mind-consciousness. This is
called consciousness.
And what are activities?
These are the three activities:–those of deed, speech,
and mind. (See Ten
Good Deeds and Ten
Evil Deeds) These are activities.
And what is ignorance?
Nescience concerning ill, its rise, its cessation and
concerning the way going to the cessation of ill. This is called ignorance.
So thus, brethren:–’conditioned by ignorance activities,
conditioned by activities consciousness,’ and so on to ‘despair’–such is the
uprising of this entire mass of ill.
But from the utter fading out and ceasing of ignorance
ceasing of activities, from the ceasing of activities ceasing of consciousness,
and so on to ‘despair’–such is the ceasing of this entire mass of ill. (Kindred
Sayings II 3-5)
———-
1) Chinese Mandarin: shr-er yin ywan , 2) Sanskrit:
nidana, pratityasamutpada, 3) Pali: paticca-samuppada 4)
Alternate Translations: causes, causes and conditions, conditioned causes,
dependent origination, interdependent origination, dependent arising,
conditioned co-production, chain of causation, metabolism of kamma, conditioned
links.
See also: causation.
Buddhist Text Translation Society
(http://www.BTTSonline.org) References: HS 61-65; SS IV 32-35; TD 31; FAS 10
Grounds Ch.–5th Ground, p. 52ff; FAS 10 Grounds Ch.–6th Ground, pp. 70-89;
10DR 9-10; AS 3.
http://drbu.org/dictionary/twelvefold-conditioned-arising
Twelvefold
Conditioned Arising
The chain of
Twelvefold Conditioned Arising consists of 1) ignorance, 2) karmic formation,
3) consciousness, 4) name and form, 5) six sense organs, 6) contact, 7)
feeling, 8) craving, 9) grasping, 10) becoming, 11) birth, 12) old age and
death.
And
what, brethren, is old age-and death?
That
which, of this and that being, in this and that group, is decay, decrepitude,
breaking up, hoariness, wrinkling of the skin, shrinkage of a life-span,
over-ripeness of faculties:this is called old age. That which , of this and
that being from this or that group, is falling or decease, separation,
disappearance, mortality or dying, accomplishment of time: separation of
component factors, laying down of the carcass: this is called death. Thus it is
this decay and this dying that is called old age-and-death.
And
what, brethren, is birth?
That
which, of this and that being in this and that group, is birth, continuous
birth, descent, reproduction, appearance of component factors, acquiring of
sense-spheres. This is called birth.
And
what, brethren, is becoming?
Three
are these becomings: becoming in kama (i.e., desire) [-worlds], becoming in
rupa (i.e., form) [-worlds], becoming in arupa (i.e., formless) [-worlds]. This
is called becoming.
And
what, brethren, is grasping?
There
are these four graspings: grasping of desires, grasping of opinion,grasping of
rule and ritual, grasping of soul theory. This is called grasping.
And
what, brethren, is craving?
There
are these six groups of craving: craving for things seen, for things heard, for
odors, for tastes, for things tangible, for ideas. This is called craving.
And
what, brethren, is feeling?
There
are these six groups of feeling:feeling that is born of eye-contact, feeling
that is born of ear-contact, feeling that is born of nose-contact, feeling that
is born of tongue-contact, feeling that is born of body-contact, feeling that
is born of mind contact. This is called feeling.
And
what, brethren, is contact?
There
are these six groups of contact: eye-contact, ear-, nose-, tongue-, body-,
mind-contact. This is called contact.
And
what, brethren, is sixfold sense?
The
sense of eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind. This is called sixfold sense.
And
what, brethren, is name-and shape?
Feeling, perception, will, contact, work of mind. This is called name. The four
great elements and the shape derived from them. This is called shape. This is
the name, this is the shape called name-and-shape.
And
what is consciousness?
There
are six groups of consciousness:— eye-consciousness, ear-consciousness, smell-,
taste-, touch-, and mind-consciousness. This is called consciousness.
And
what are activities?
These
are the three activities: those of deed, speech, and mind. These are
activities.
And
what is ignorance?
Nescience
concerning ill, its rise, its cessation and concerning the way going to the
cessation of ill. This is called ignorance.
So
thus,brethren:‘conditioned by ignorance activities, conditioned by activities
consciousness,’ and so on to ‘despair’—such is the uprising of this entire mass
of ill. But from the utter fading out and ceasing of ignorance ceasing of
activities, from the ceasing of activities ceasing of consciousness, and so on
to ‘despair’—such is the ceasing of this entire mass of ill. (Rhys Davids, tr. Kindred
Sayings II 3-5)
Commentary
“…ignorance.
Where does it come from? What is its beginning? It cannot be classified as
either conditioned or unconditioned but falls between the two… ignorance leads
to karmic activity.
“Karmic
activity is a conditioned dharma, and when it appears, consciousness, which
makes distinctions about the manifestations of activity, arises. With the
making of distinctions the trouble starts.
“Name
and form are the trouble. Just mentioning them is asking for trouble, because
you’re bound to say, ‘How are name and form troublesome? I don’t understand.’
Before I said anything, you did not have any problem of not understanding, but
once I referred to name and form as trouble, the problem of your not
understanding arose and with it the desire to know.
“This
quest for knowledge results in the use of the six organs, the faculties through
which you attempt to achieve understanding. You decide you want to know, and
suddenly a visual consciousness appears as do the consciousnesses of the ears,
nose, tongue, body, and mind. You think you can gain understanding through the
six organs without realizing that the more you ‘understand’ the more confused
you become, and the more confused you are, the less you understand.
“Since
you do not understand, you tend toward further involvement, which takes the
form of contact. You constantly seek encounters, east, west, north, south,
above, and below, like a fly madly bouncing off walls. All that results from
this desperate attempt to understand is a lot of bruises from all the bumps.
“After
the determination to understand sets in and the encounters occur, there is
feeling. ‘Ow! It hurts!’ you exclaim when you are bumping into things, and ‘Boy
do I feel good!’ when you are not. ‘If no one bothers me I’m fine, but I can’t
stand criticism.’ This is where feeling lies. Don’t look for it anywhere else.
“Once
there is feeling, love arises. With love comes hate. You like to get involved
in pleasant situations, but you detest painful circumstances. Happiness and
unhappiness come from love, and every day the trouble grows.
“Wishing
to prolong your contact with the objects of love, you indulge in grasping. The
reason you clutch at objects of love is that you wish to become one with them.
You want them to be inseparable from you, and this grasping leads to becoming.
“Your
attempt to have them for your own results in further births, which lead to old
age and death. This is the Twelvefold Conditioned Arising.” (TD 31)
Chinese Terms
十二因緣
