Skip to main content

4ip: four iddhipāda similes from SN, DN, Ab Vb commentaries

 


It is like the case of four ministers who, aspiring to a position, 
lived in close association with the king. 

(1) Chanda
One was energetic in waiting upon [the king]; 
knowing the king's wishes and desires, 
he waited upon him night and day; 
he pleased the king and obtained a position. 
The one who produces transcendent dhamma with chanda as chief should be understood as like him. 

(2) vīriya
Another, however, thought: 
'I cannot wait upon the king daily; 
when a task needs to be done I shall please him by my valour.' 
When there was trouble on the borders he was posted by the king, 
and having crushed the enemy by means of his valour he obtained a position. 
The one who produces transcendent dhamma with viriya as chief should be understood as like him. 

(3) citta
Another thought: 
'Waiting upon the king daily, taking swords and arrows on the chest is burdensome. 
I shall please the king by the power of my counsel.' 
Having pleased the king by providing counsel by means of his grasp of state craft, he obtained a position. 
The one who produces transcendent dhamma with citta as chief should be understood as like him. 

(4) vimamsa
Another thought: 
'What need of waiting upon [the king], and so on? 
Surely kings grant positions to those of [good] birth. 
When the king grants [a position] to such a one he will grant it to me.'
So relying solely on his possession of [good] birth, he obtained a position. 
The one who produces transcendent dhamma with vimamsa as chief, 
relying on thoroughly purified vimamsa should be understood as like him. 


The above version is taken from the Digha and Samyutta commentaries... 
The Vibhanga commentary's version of this simile 
inverts the illustrations for citta and vimamss, 
so we have citta illustrated by good birth, 
and vimamsa by the power of counsel.


from THE BUDDHIST PATH TO AWAKENING by Rupert Gethin page 90 and 91



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Advice to younger meditators on jhāna, sex, porn, masturbation

Someone asked: Is porn considered harmful sexual.activity? I don't have a sex life because I don't have a partner and I don't wish to engage in casual sex so I use porn to quench the biological urge to orgasm. I can't see that's it's harmful because nobody is being forced into it. The actors are all paid well and claim to enjoy it etc. The only harm I can see is that it's so accessible these days on smart devices and so children may access it but I believe that this is the parents responsibility to not allow unsupervised use of devices etc. Views? Frankk response: In another thread, you asked about pleasant sensations and jhāna.  I'm guessing you're young, so here's some important advice you won't get from suttas   if you're serious about jhāna.  (since monastics are already celibate by rule)   If you want to attain stable and higher jhānas,   celibacy and noble silence to the best of your ability are the feedstock and prerequiste to tha...
Post a Comment
Read more

SN 48.40 Ven. Thanissaro comments on Ven. Sunyo's analysis

This was Ven. Sunyo's analysis of SN 48.40: https://notesonthedhamma.blogspot.com/2024/05/exciting-news-honest-ebt-scholars-like.html And here is Ven. Thanissaro's response to that analysis: I think there’s a better way to tackle the issue of SN 48:40 than by appealing to the oldest layers of commentarial literature. That way is to point out that SN 48:40, as we have it, doesn’t pass the test in DN 16 for determining what’s genuine Dhamma and what’s not. There the standard is, not the authority of the person who’s claiming to report the Buddha’s teachings, but whether the teachings he’s reporting are actually in accordance with the principles of the Dhamma that you know. So the simple fact that those who have passed the Buddha’s teachings down to us say that a particular passage is what the Buddha actually taught is not sufficient grounds for accepting it. In the case of the jhānas—the point at issue here— we have to take as our guide the standard formula for the jhānas, a...
Post a Comment
Read more

1min. video: Dalai Lama kissing boy and asking him to suck his tongue

To give more context, this is a public event,  * everyone knows cameras are rolling  *  it's a room full of children * the boy's mom is standing off camera a few feet away watching all of this * the boy initiated contact, he had already had a hug with Dalai Lama earlier and then asked Dalai Lama for another hug which triggered this segment  17 min. video showing what happened before that 1 min. clip and after, with some explanation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bT0qey5Ts78 16min talk from Ajahn Acalo with his thoughts on Dalai Lama kissing boy, relevance to Bhikkhu monastic code, sexual predators in religion in general, and how celibate monastics deal with sexual energy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uK2m0TcUib0 The child's comments about the incident in a filmed interview later https://www.marca.com/en/lifestyle/world-news/2023/04/18/643eba5d46163ffc078b457c.html The child: It's a great experience It was amazing to meet His Holiness and I think it's a great ex...
Post a Comment
Read more