..续本文上一页 radiance of a mind purified and calmed. It is the growing strength of this new experience which will gradually clear the road to final emancipation.
3. According to the commentary quoted by us, the snake feels disgust towards its old skin when the sloughing is not yet complete and parts of the old skin still adhere to its body. Similarly, the disgust felt towards residual attachments and defilements will give to the disciple an additional urgency in his struggle for final liberation. Such disgust is a symptom of his growing detachment. It is strengthened by an increasing awareness of the perils inherent in the uneliminated defilements — perils to oneself and to others. On seeing these perils, the whole misery of man”s situation, the samsaric predicament, will gain for him increasing poignancy; and the more he progresses in mental training and moral refinement, the stronger his distaste will become for what is still unamenable in him to that training and refinement. Therefore the Buddha advised his son Rahula: "Make disgust strong in you" (Sutta Nipata, v.340). This disgust (nibbida) is often mentioned in the Buddhist scriptures as an aid as well as a phase on the road to full detachment. Thus among the eight insight knowledges the contemplation of disgust (nibbidanupassana) follows upon the awareness of the peril and misery in samsara, when formations of existence have become tasteless and insipid to the meditator. And in innumerable sutta passages the Buddha says that when the disciple sees the constituents of body and mind as impermanent, suffering and not self, he becomes disgusted with them; through his disgust he becomes dispassionate, and through dispassion he is liberated. The Noble Eightfold Path itself is extolled because it leads to complete disgust with worldliness, to dispassion, cessation, peace, direct[3] knowledge, enlightenment and Nibbana.
When insight is deepened and strengthened, what has been called here "disgust" (in rendering the Pali nibbida) loses the strong emotional tinge of aversion and revulsion. It manifests itself instead as a withdrawal, estrangement and turning away from worldliness and from the residue of one”s own defilements. 4. Just as the snake, in its effort to throw off its old skin, uses as support a stone or the root of a tree, similarly, the teachers of old say that the striving disciple should make full use of the support of noble friendship in his efforts towards full liberation. A friend”s watchful concern, his wise counsel and his inspiring example may well be of decisive help in the arduous work of freeing oneself from the burdensome encumbrance of passions, frailties and tenacious habits.
Often and emphatically, the Buddha praised the value of noble friendship. Once the venerable Ananda, who was so deeply devoted to the Master, spoke of noble friendship as being "half of the holy life," believing he had duly praised its worth. The Buddha replied: "Do not say so, Ananda, do not say so: it is the entire holy life to have noble friends, noble companions, noble associates" (Samyutta Nikaya). If this holds true for the spiritual life of a monk, there are additional reasons for cherishing noble friendship within the common life of the world with all its harshness and perils, struggles and temptations, and its almost unavoidable contact with fools and rogues.
Noble friendship, so rare and precious, is indeed one of the few solaces which this world can offer. But this world of ours would be truly "disconsolate" if, besides the solace of friendship, it did not harbor the still greater solace of the Buddha”s compassionate message of an open way to final deliverance from suffering.
The Meaning of Monk
The word monk (bhikkhu) has to be taken here in the same sense as explained in the old c…
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