..續本文上一頁and hard to eradicate. Anything at all can serve as an object for desire: colors and shapes, sounds, odors, tastes and tactile objects of any sort, kind and description. These are sensual objects (Kama), and the state of mental attachment which takes the form of satisfaction in these desirable objects is sensual desire (Kama - raga). What we call ill will is the reaction of a mind that feels dissatisfaction. If there is satisfaction, there is sensual desire; if dissatisfaction, ill will. Most people”s minds are subject to these two states. There may arise ill will towards even inanimate objects, and what is more, one can even be dissatisfied with the things one has produced oneself, the things that arise in one”s own mind. Where there is actual hatred and anger towards an object, ill will has become too fierce. An Aryian at a stage below the Non - returnee has given it up to a degree appropriate to his station. The ill will that remains for the third grade of Aryian to relinquish is just a mental reaction so subtle that possibly no outward evidence of it appears. It is an inner perturbation not revealed by any facial expression, yet present inwardly as dissatisfaction, as irritation or annoyance at some person or thing that does not conform to expectation. Imagine a person completely devoid of every form of ill will: consider what a very exceptional inpidual he would be, and how worthy of respect. The five defilements we have just been discussing were grouped together by the Buddha as the first to be given up. Self belief, doubt, superstition, sensual desire and ill will have all been given up by an Aryian at the third level. Because there remains no sensual desire, this grade of Aryian never again returns to the sensual state of existence. This is why he gets the name "Never - returner," one who will never come back. For him there is only movement forward and upward to Arahantship and Nirvana, in a state having nothing to do with sensuality, a supreme, pine condition. As for the five remaining defilements, these only the Arahant, the fourth grade of Aryian, succeeds in relinquishing completely.
The next defilement, the sixth of the fetters, is desire for the bliss associated with the various stages of concentration on forms (rupa - raga). The first three grades of Aryian are still not capable of giving up attachment to the bliss and tranquillity obtainable by concentrating deeply on forms, but they will succeed in doing so when they move up to the last stage, that of the Arahant. The fully concentrated state has a captivating flavor, which can be described as a foretaste of Nirvana. Though it differs from real Nirvana, it has more or less the same flavor. While one is fully concentrated, the defilements are dormant; but they have not evaporated away entirely, and will reappear as soon as concentration is lost. As long as they are dormant, however, the mind is empty, clear, free, and knows the flavor of real Nirvana. Consequently this state can also become a cause of attachment.
The seventh subtle defilement is desire for the bliss associated with full concentration on objects other than forms (arupa - raga). It resembles the sixth fetter, but is one degree more subtle and attenuated. Concentration on an object such as space or emptiness yields a tranquillity and quiescence more profound than concentration on a form, with the result that one becomes attached to that state. No Arahant could ever become fascinated by any state of pleasant feeling whatsoever, regardless of where it originated, because an Arahant is automatically aware of the impermanence, unsatisfactoriness and nonselfhood of every state of feeling. Other hermits and mystics practicing concentration in the forest do not perceive the hidden danger in these blissful …
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