..续本文上一页oughout, do not and cannot enforce bondage unless we ourselves forge the chains of craving and delusion.

　　A bhikkhu who in solitude

　　has mind”s tranquility obtained,

　　enjoys a super human bliss,

　　if insight in the Teaching dawns.

　　Whenever in the aggregates

　　their rise and fall he clearly notes,

　　to joy and rapture he attains.

　　To those who know —

　　this is the Deathless State.

　　— Dhammapada, vv. 373-374

　　Thus will a vision stern

　　Change into freedom”s smile...

　　— Nyanaponika Thera

　　Notes

　　1.

　　This may result from the unwillingness to give up a wrong view advocated in the argument. It may also come under the heading "What is encountered, this he also considers thus: This is mine..."; that is, he identifies himself with a given situation (here the disputation) and with his own stand taken in it.

　　2.

　　See §27: "Whatever consciousness... gross or subtle."

　　3.

　　This, too, falls under the fifth of the "grounds," being a mental construction (§15: "what is thought"), and something "sought after and pursued in mind," due to human yearning for permanence.

　　4.

　　See The Wheel No. 11: Anatta and Nibbana, by Nyanaponika Thera, p. 18.

　　The Snake Simile

　　Thus have I heard. Once the Blessed One lived at Saavatthii, in Jeta”s Grove, in Anaathapi.n.dika”s monastery.

　　Ari.t.tha”s Wrong View

　　2. Now on that occasion a monk called Ari.t.tha, formerly of the vulture killers, had conceived this pernicious view: "There are things called ”obstructions”[1] by the Blessed One. As I understand his teaching, those things are not necessarily obstructive for one who pursues them."

　　3. Several monks, hearing about it, went to the monk Ari.t.tha, formerly of the vulture killers, and asked him: "Is it true, friend Ari.t.tha, that you have conceived this pernicious view: "There are things called (obstructions) by the Blessed One. As I understand his teaching, those things are not necessarily obstructive for one who pursues them”

　　"

　　"Yes, indeed, friends, (I do hold that view)."

　　Then those monks, wishing to dissuade Ari.t.tha from that pernicious view, urged, admonished, questioned and exhorted him thus: "Do not say so, friend Ari.t.tha, do not say so! Do not misrepresent the Blessed One! It is not right to misrepresent him. Never would the Blessed One speak like that. For in many ways, indeed, has the Blessed One said of those obstructive things that they are obstructions, indeed, and that they necessarily obstruct him who pursues them. Sense desires, so he has said, bring little enjoyment and much suffering and disappointment. The perils in them are greater. Sense desires are like bare bones, has the Blessed One said; they are like a lump of flesh, like a torch of straw, like a pit of burning coals, like a dream, like borrowed goods, like a fruit-bearing tree, like a slaughter house, like a stake of swords, like a snake”s head, are sense desires, has the Blessed One said.[2] They bring little enjoyment, and much suffering and disappointment. The perils in them are greater."

　　Yet, though the monk Ari.t.tha was thus urged, admonished, questioned and exhorted by those monks, he still clung tenaciously and obstinately to his pernicious view, saying: "There are things called ”obstructions” by the Blessed One. As I understand his teaching, those things are not necessarily obstructive for one who pursues them."

　　4. When those monks could not dissuade the monk Ari.t.tha, formerly of the vulture killers, from his pernicious view, they went to the Blessed One, and after respectfully saluting him, they sat down at one side. Being seated they told the Blessed One (all that had happened), and they said: "Since, O Lord, we could not dissuade the monk Ari.t.tha from his pernicious view, we have now reported this matter to the Blessed One."

　　5. Then the Blessed One addressed a certain monk thus: …

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